Out With The Old

              



We are all familiar with this quote, maybe too familiar I'm afraid. 

I moved, yes again, to a sweet townhouse in Odessa. One of the things I love about this quaint home the Lord blessed me with is my screened-in porch. I love being outside and I have the best view of the woods. It's a conservation area so I don't have to worry about any building going on while I'm here.

I spend a lot of time out here, actually, I'm writing this jewel from my outdoor oasis right now.
So here's the thing about us, humans, in spite of all the beautiful trees I see and the abundance of wildlife that I hear praising God on a daily basis my eyes are drawn to one treetop that I have to go out of my way to see. 


There at the top is a dead branch and every day I say to myself, I really wish someone would cut off those dead branches. That was until yesterday when I heard a crow making quite the ruckus. You know how loud crows can be. It seemed all his yelling was directed at me as there were no other birds nearby that I could see. I finally looked up and said "what are you yelling about?" 

He then broke off a piece of that dead branch, Gems I actually heard the snap of the branch breaking. As he did I heard the Holy Spirit say "he needs those dead branches to build his nest."  I realized this crow was looking for that very kind of branch. What was dead to me was going to help keep life for him. That crow was probably yelling at me to leave his branches alone!

I realized just because something looked old didn't mean it wasn't useful. This of course got me thinking about people and how far we have come from honoring the elderly.

                          
The way of the righteous. Gems we don't just become righteous. It is a process and to be honest I don't think we even know what that means until we get older.

I went to a church service years back and the music was so loud I actually had to plug my ears, it was awful. What was worse than the volume of the music was what the Pastor said when he came to the microphone. He said "if the music is too loud for you, you must be too old, then this isn't the church for you."
I left.... Not because I was insulted that he called me old, I wasn't what I would consider old yet. I left because he was telling the congregation that old people had no place there. How very sad that moment was for the body of Christ.

Yeshua is letting us know that He has no age limit on His children. Old men will dream dreams. Many people say you know your dead when you stop dreaming. I love hearing older people share about things from the past that they walked through personally.

You have heard me speak of my dear friend and mentor Fran Bozeman. Oh how I miss her. She got me through so many difficult times with her love and wisdom. She told me stories of her life that made me want to serve God in a deeper way. She had the right to speak into my life because she had been through many of life's challenges and survived.

When I was a little girl my hero was my grandma Sophie. She was one tough cookie! Grandma raised her 6 children pretty much on her own. She worked from home long before being an entrepreneur was cool. She used to bake wedding cakes to make money. I can remember having sleepovers at her house and running up to the door, the aroma of fresh cakes wafting its way out to the yard. I couldn't wait to get to the bowl that contained leftover pieces of cake from whatever creation she was putting together.

Sophie lived a humble life, she didn't have a lot of money but she took pride in everything she did. Coming from a large Italian family, my grandmother was one of 13 and had 6 children, she eventually had a lot of grandchildren. When it was our birthday she gave you a dollar bill with Happy Birthday written on it. She said you didn't really want the card anyway and she didn't want to waste money. She was very creative, I did get that from her. 

Her home was simple, there weren't a lot of knick-knacks lying around, it was always neat and orderly. As a devout catholic the only thing she displayed was a small likeness of Mary holding Jesus, I still have it. 
The thing is my grandmother wasn't a big talker, I know where did I come from?
She didn't give me lots of lectures on life or even talk about hers. She was a living illustration.
I can't remember my grandmother complaining and trust me she had many things to overcome. She had integrity, she was generous and kind. She gave what little she had to others and she served God however she thought would please Him. To be honest we never really talked about God. I did go to mass with her on sleepovers and when I wanted to visit a nearby church as a teen she was worried because she heard they spoke in weird languages but she didn't stop me. She was truly the gospel message without using words.
I learned more life lessons from my grandmother's example than any other person growing up.

When my oldest sister got married I sat proudly next to my grandmother. I remember leaning over to her and saying "grandma when I get married I want you to be in my wedding." She laughed and said "you won't want some old fat woman in your wedding." 
I didn't forget that promise and years later as I planned my wedding I asked her to be my matron of honor, she thought I was kidding. When she realized I wasn't she said "where will you find a dress to fit me?" Did I mention my grandmother was also a seamstress? Finding a dress was the least of my concerns. I was honored to have my grandmother a part of a very special event in my life.

Right behind her is my sister Darlene. That's whose wedding it was when I asked Sophie to be in my wedding. I didn't notice that till just now as I'm writing this jewel. Tradition says not to outshine the bride but my grandam did, she was stunning!

I still keep this picture in my bedroom. I love this frame with the crown on it, it's so appropriate for my grandmother who was truly a queen in my eyes.

Gems I guess what I'm saying is out with the old is not a good idea at all! We need the generations before us to remind us of what was good and bad in our lives. They are our history, their input will affect our future.

I pray this will serve as a gentle reminder to all of us to honor the elderly. Don't assume because they look old they aren't useful. LISTEN to them they may save you years of un-needed grief. 

Next time you have questions, before hitting Google hit up grandparents 😉