I once asked my grandmother, who recently turned 92, for her advice on life. Here’s what she said…
My grandmother is sitting at my kitchen table. I open a small book filled with questions about spiritual legacy and invite her to give voice to her history.
I love the reciting of the stories and the way she smiles when she gets to the part about me being born, her oldest grandchild. What I don’t know is what she would say to me now. “What do you wish someone had told you when you were my age?” I ask. She pauses for a long time then she says, simply and thoughtfully, “Accept God’s gifts with gladness.”
She knows me well—that I’m prone to placing pressure on myself, to wrestling with guilt and fear, to making burdens out of blessings.
I think “accepting God’s gifts with gladness” is ultimately about humility. It’s remembering to say “thank you” more often. It’s understanding the world does not rest on our shoulders but in God’s hands. It’s daring to experience the most vulnerability of emotions—happiness, delight, freedom. It’s living with open hands rather than clenching them in fear or striving. It’s having the courage to not let the enemy of our hearts steal the joy of what’s ours.
Left to right: Me, Dad, Mom, Winnie (dog), Stephen (little brother), Granny Eula
Life has been hard for my Grandma at times. She married at fifteen, became a mother at sixteen, dropped out of high school. She also eventually got her Masters Degree, raised a beautiful family, changed our legacy. “God is good” she likes to say, and He has certainly been good to us through her.
God, grant me the courage to accept Your gifts with gladness today.
What’s the best life advice you’ve gotten?
Cheering You On,
Holley
MORE FOR YOU
Last week on More then Small Talk, Michelle Donnelly, author of Made for More and founder of the PlusONE ministry for single parents, joined us to talk about how God meets us in our places of overwhelm and unburdens our overloaded hearts. Listen in!
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