Just some thoughts.... Mumsie

It is when faced with death that we truly figure out who we are sometimes. I know that right now as I hear the news about my grandmother, Mumsie, that I really feel compelled to live life to the fullest… to the deepest. I am told that she is in her last days. How long that is, is up to God. His breath brought her into the world, and with her last breath she will leave this world. She lived her faith out, and passed it to her kids.

As we approach Christmas day I do find it difficult that it looks like it will be this time of year where she passes, but again, she is in God’s hands.

We found out about another death in the people we know, and mentioned it to the kids. I guess it was sort of a way for us to see how to explain things to the boys. Logan, the fine Star Wars fan that he is, asked if the person’s body disappeared. Trying to explain the concepts of the eternal to the mind of a curious 6 year old will prove difficult.

This year, more than most I find myself trapped in the Ghosts of Christmas past. Going to see my grandparents was always so much fun. They always had a huge tree in the house… often pine. There was the little crèche under the tree. We would gather around the big table. As we got bigger the table did too… with spouses and children. I can remember the distinct sound of my grandfather’s footsteps coming down the stairs, and how he had to duck every time. There is the sound of his laugh that still makes an impression on me…. And the sound of his sneeze from too much pepper. Playing with my cousins while someone used the electric turkey knife, and the smell of it all as they put it on the table.

There is part of me that longs for those days, when life was simpler, when all I had to do was open gifts, eat and have fun. But now, as life does, it moves on. It moves towards a fixed point where each of us must pass into eternity.

I intend to enjoy the journey, to go after God with all that I can, even though there are times of stress, times of hardship, times of disappointment and times of grief. Mixed in there is love, and family. Friendships and hugs. There are experiences and wonder. The life that is travelled will have its ups and downs. Jesus promised us life more abundantly. He never said it would be easy.

As each season of my life concludes I wish more and more that I could keep hold of them, but I also know that there is more there to experience and see. I have my own wife and kids. They have their grandparents and uncles and aunts. Each day my kids do something to bring a smile to my face. Each day they see something that they have never thought of before. Each day a new thought forms…. A new question. Each day I discover how much I know, and how much I don’t know.  I am also learning how innocence is powerful.

Life is wondrous. I hope that I have my health well into my eighties so I can tell my one “when I was boy” stories, so I can call the young people “whipper-snappers” and so I can see how the world changes, and try to change it for the better.

So what have I learned from my grandmother?  Stay true to your marriage.  Have a song for everything.  Stand up for what is right.  Always have cookies baked and ready for guests.  Have people over for dinner to build relationships.  Dance.  Cheer for your sports teams.  Laugh.  There are few problems that a cup of tea can't work out.