Embrace Your “Feisty” (7/22/2023)

Last night while I was at dinner with friends, my fraternal grandmother came up. I think of her often. She was and will continue to be a model for me. She was very small; my memory has her standing less than 5 feet tall. And yet she had the courage of a mother grizzly and the stamina of a seasoned Marine. She was the mother of 10 sons whom she raised through the depression years. She was a faithful woman; her prayers began and ended her days. She taught me so much; she taught me to embrace my “feisty.”

Though she was small in stature and, as such, judged by the foolish to be weak, she was lively when most would have been fatigued, she was determined when most would have been defeated, and she was courageous when most would have cringed in fear. From the time I was a small child who witnessed her in action and learned not only from her example but her words, I wanted to grow into such a woman.

One of her most notable habits was prayer. She was a “candles and beadwork” woman meaning she often went to church to light a candle with her prayer and her rosary beads were never far from her. She believed in the power of prayer to change the world beginning with her.

She taught me so much even though she died when I was 18. She taught me most by her example though at times she did share her wisdom in conversation. And when the world is coming close to beating me or the needs of the moment exceed what I think I have, I think of her, and I embrace my “feisty” prayerfully.

As we continue on our journeys of our lifetime making our way home to union with our loving LORD, let us consider what the LORD has made of us. We all have limitations, but hopefully we all also have faith which tells us that the LORD is with us. And at times, our limitations are actually our catapults when we quit wishing for that which we are not and embrace that which we are – when we embrace who the LORD has made us to be and the gifts with which the LORD has equipped us.

And so, I accept the fact that I will never be more than 5 feet tall, not even on a good hair day. I acknowledge that my most valuable education came from life and from the examples of others. And most days, before noon something comes along that makes me smile, remember my grandmother, and meet it head on by embracing my “feisty.”

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.