Grandma’s Inheritance

Sharon JaynesGeneral Inspiration, Motherhood 46 Comments

 

Older women…encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, (Titus 2:3,5 NASB).


As far as I can remember, my Grandma Edwards was always old. She didn’t have many material possessions, but she had a sharp mind, a determined spirit, and buckets full of love. She was a small-framed woman who raised a family of five children during the depression by running a country general store and harvesting produce from her garden. Her waist-long, tightly braided hair wound around her head like a crown, and her teeth came out at night.

Another thing that always amazed me as a little girl was Grandma’s undergarments. She wore knit baggy underwear that hung down to her knees and an equally attractive T-shirt to match. I never saw these undergarments anywhere except on Grandma’s clothesline, so I decided there must be a special “Grandma store” that sold baggy underwear just for grandparents.

Grandma never drove a car, but she would ring up the grocery store and a box of supplies would magically appear on her back stoop. Grandma’s house was filled with the aroma of strong coffee and fresh-baked biscuits. There was also the scent of salve, which was the cure-all for any ailment, and of snuff, which she would sneak between her cheek and gum when she thought I wasn’t looking.

Each summer I would spend a week at Grandma’s house. The highlight of our day was watching Perry Mason on her big black-and-white television. We drank Coca-Cola from cold glass bottles and ate peanut butter crackers. Grandma had a standing date with Perry each day. If someone “came a’callin’ ” during that time, they knew to pull up a chair, grab a Coke, and wait until the verdict was in before conversation could commence.

During my weeks with Grandma, there were no trips to fast-food restaurants or shopping sprees at the mall. That’s just not what grandmas were for. So what did I do for seven days? I did what Grandma did (except dip snuff). I made biscuits, shelled lima beans, canned vegetables for the following winter, and learned how to sew.

When I was six-years-old, Grandma taught me how to turn a square piece of daisy-covered fabric into a gathered apron with a big bow in the back. At seven, we transformed a rectangular piece of floral cloth into a jumper with big ball buttons on the straps. At eight, we conquered the zipper.

Without realizing it, my grandmother was being a Titus 2 woman. “Older women…encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home.” It was her inheritance to me.

Grandma didn’t leave me a sum of money when she passed away, but she left something much more valuable. God used her to show me that leaving an inheritance to our children is so much more than money in the bank, well-invested mutual funds, and valuable heirlooms. It is leaving them memories of simple times together, showing them on how to become men and women of God, and leaving a legacy that causes them to “rise up and call you blessed.”

What sort of legacy will you leave behind? What will your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews inherit from you?

Let’s Pray
Dear Lord, help me to leave a godly heritage and invest love today that will multiply tomorrow. Help me to always remember what is important—not money in the bank, but God in the heart. Help me to be the type of woman that we read about in Titus 2 who exemplifies what You desire.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

What do You Think? 
Read Luke 1:36-45, 56 and note ways that Elizabeth encouraged Mary.

What are some ways that you can be an example to younger women in your sphere of influence?

Let’s celebrate. Click over to my blog page and tell me the name of one woman who has been an example of a godly woman to you.

Want More? 
If you are a mother or grandmother, one of the most important things you can do is to pray for your children and grandchildren. I’ve created a small inexpensive laminated prayer card with Scripture to pray for children in the most important areas of their lives. And if you are a mom who needs a bit of encouragement, check out my book Being a Great Mom-Raising Great Kids. It has been encouraging moms around the world for over ten years!

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Comments 46

  1. You brought back so many memories this morning. My granny was just like yours. I had not really thought about this before but I don’t see grandmothers either taking or having the time to teach their grandchildren like in the days of our youth. I hope to be this kind of grandmother someday.

  2. My mom, Hazel, was that Godly example in my life. She died when I was only 21 and she was 63, but the legacy she left me is carrying me through my life. The older I get the more I realize what valuable things she taught me….taught me without saying a word.

  3. I love this story! It reminds me of my ‘Mama’ – except Mama didn’t do snuff. She was a pastor’s wife. I spent every spare minute with her and Papa – summers we went to visit her “people” in the backwoods of Alabama where they had outhouses and Sears & Roebuck catalogs, a well and a huge garden where we gathered our meals from. She taught me to sew (even made my wedding dress), make homemade buttermilk biscuits, snap beans and most importantly taught me the power of prayer. While she and Papa were never rich in money … they were some of the wealthiest people I’ve ever met in love and legacy!

  4. My Grandmother Edna Gonser was the biggest influence in my life. She taught me many important things. The most important was serving the Lord. Everyday began with her reading devotions from her Bible before breakfast. She was always witnessing to everyone she had an opportunity to talk to even the Jehovah’s Witnesses that most people would not even open the door for let alone invite them into her home. She lived a simple life as a farm wife. She had raised 6 children through the depression. She taught me about gardening, and not wasting anything. I believe I’m a prime example of “train up a child in the way he should go.” That Bible I mentioned she had won years ago for getting the most people to come to a revival. By the time she went to heaven it was literally falling apart at the seams because she wore it out. I have that Bible. It is one of my prized possessions because it reminds me of her great example and how important it was in my life to have someone like her to lead me.

  5. My grandmother, Mary, just went to be with the Lord last week. She definitely lived out the Titus scripture, teaching me all things on the farm and being such an example of love, grace and hospitality. Thanks for the wonderful and very timely post.

  6. Thank you for this wonderful reminder 🙂 My mother, Mary Ann, who went home to be with the Lord in September 2009, was an outstanding godly influence to me! Her legacy of honoring God, respecting her husband, taking care of her family and loving others has had great impact in my life. Also, my mentor and friend, Esther, has demonstrated to me what it means to honor, respect, love and be a help mate to my husband; as well as encouraging me as a mommy of two little ones! She has poured into me, prayed with me and sometimes cried with me. I sooooo thankful for them both!

  7. Thank you for putting a smile on my face today as I remember my own special grandmother. It’s sad how families have changed so much over the years. I do make an effort to sow into the lives of other women by making the most of opportunities God places in my path 🙂

  8. My “Grandmom” was Grandmom Weaver. I know she went to the same store your grandma did for baggy underwear. I saw it on her clothes line. Grandmom Edwards was my other grandma who didn’t like children. Grandmom Weaver and I must have seen every Perry Mason episode (probably a few times). Whenever Grandmom would ask me what I wanted to eat, I would say “pancakes, ganma, pancakes,” or so she told me when I was older and no longer able to walk under her table. Grandmom raised her 5 boys and 1 girl well. She loved all her grandchildren and was always available to all of us. She held our very large extended family together through thick and thin. When I tell my children about my family, I tell them about Grandmom Weaver. I was just talking about her a few days ago to someone, and she has been gone long enough that I am the grandma now. I hope I leave a legacy of love like my Grandmom Weaver did. She loved her family and her Lord and she lived it!

  9. I am asking for prayer for my 3 adult children which lives away from home. Levauris, Lekevia, and Lekeith. Thank you Joyce!

  10. Oh Sharon,
    The more I read your blogs, the more I’m convinced we were cut from the same cloth. It brought tears to my eyes to read the things your grandmother taught you. I’ve been blessed with a multi-generational family most of my life. It was my great-grandmother that taught me all the things you mentioned in this story. And my grandmother taught me that you’re never too old to learn new things. When I was 6 years old, my grandmother went back to college to earn her teacher degree. And when I was 12, she returned to get her masters degree to be a librarian. When she was 76 years old she bought her first computer to make it easier to do her geneology work. And when she was 90, she took up painting. And the most important thing both my grandmother & great-grandmother taught me is that no matter what problems you’re facing, the answer is in God’s Word. I lost my grandmother this past January. But the story of her life is intermingled within the margins and pages of her favorite Bible. That’s the best legacy anyone can leave for their children and grandchildren. Thank you so much for sharing your memories with us!

  11. Your granny sounds just like my mother – in – law. though I was in my 30’s when I met her, she made sure I knew how to care for my husband and family before I got married.

  12. Nanna was my best friend, we did everything together. Growing up on a farm, she loved simple things and “playing in the dirt”. Picking strawberries was the most fun. We would listen to bluegrass music and she would tell me stories about when she was growing up. Little did I know that those stories would come to mean the world to me. And oh how I wish I had recorded them, wrote them down, anything to have a record of them. Sadly she developed Alzheimer’s and the memories began to fade, but I was able to spend almost every day with her before she passed. As the end drew near and we were told the time had come, Nanna fooled everyone and took a turn for the better. A relative said the most profound thing I have ever heard, “Nanna is hanging on because God hasn’t finished her mansion yet.” It brings tears to my eyes now to think about it. Within a week, Nanna’s mansion was finished and she was gone. I miss my best friend so very much, but I hold onto the knowledge that one day we will pick strawberries and listen to bluegrass music again and there will be no more Alzheimer’s disease.

  13. Awesome devotional today, thank you for sharing your life with us. I remember my Grandparents would have my siblings and I over night at their tiny apartment. My Grandma, Estelle, always wore a dress, apron, hose, and sensible black shoes – even in the summer! She played Shirley Temple records and she would whistle along and dance with us. She would stay up late, sitting in her wooden rocking chair praying and reading her Bible. She never learned how to drive a car, she called a purse a “pocket book”, and she used a “hanky” instead of kleenex. 🙂

  14. My grandmother, Rosalie Nicholas Compton Evans was exactly this kind of grandmother except for the baggy undergarments and snuff. I know she prayed for me and my siblings and she taught us much, loved us greatly, and shared her wisdom in ways she didn’t even know. She lived to be 100 and I spent almost every Christmas of my life with her (I think I missed two). Even though she’s been gone 10 years, I still hear her words, and miss her greatly. But as my granddaugher says “When we get to Heaven, there will be Jesus, Granny and a chocolate cake!” What a thought!!

  15. I cried as I read this. My Granny was a wonderful Godly woman! My Papaw was a Baptist Minister my whole life and my Granny was his solid support. I have watched my Granny work tirelessly in the kitchen and sew all day all the while having a hearty laugh and a big hug. She was a retired nurse so anytime I didn’t feel well I always asked for Granny and she was always there nursing me back to health!

    I had a very rough childhood with no stability at all having been raised by alcoholic drug addicted young parents however, my Granny NEVER changed. Her address and telephone number were the same my whole life. Even though my parents would move me around a lot and we were homeless more than once I still knew if we could make it back to Tennessee Granny would make everything alright! She passed away due to an accident almost 7 years ago but I still have her phone number programmed into my cell phone and would give ANYTHING to dial that number and hear her voice!

    I had a Godly example in my Granny and Papaw! They were never wealthy or had anything fancy but they always loved unconditionally and impacted my life more than any other human. I can’t wait to be with them again in heaven! I miss them so much but to this day can smell the smells of their house and see and hear my Granny laughing. What a rich inheritance she left me!

  16. I was blessed with so many godly women in my life. My mother and grandmother were awesome and,after my husband and I moved far from my family, God gave me a ‘Brownwood mom’. Betty Walkin was strong and gentle, giving and loving. She became my mom in every way except for blood. She is with the Lord now, as is my mother, and I imagine that they’re looking down, comparing notes and smiling on me, still.

  17. I could fill the page with women who have been a godly example for me. Here are just a few:
    Aunt Clara (unmarried)
    Aunt Elizabeth (unmarried)
    my mother
    my daughter-in-law
    Kristy
    Thanks for helping me think about this today

  18. My sister-in-law’s mom, Barb Mattis, was the first person who came to mind when I read today’s post. Barb is wise, supportive, kind, forgiving, and funny – a wonderful example of a Christian mom, grandma, and friend.

  19. My Granny was alot like yours. She had snow white hair as far back as I can remember. She always wore an apron even tho in later years she did not cook, just so she could carry her Big G Snuff in the pocket. LOL! Growing up we got to gather the eggs. She would fix a special corn bread mixture just for the chickens I also got to help churn the butter. I can remember that was hard work, but worth it.

  20. Today’s post brought back some happy memories for me! My dad’s mom was a widow and lived with us in the country when I was growing up. I think she had always been OLD, too! Well, she was in her 40s when my dad was born! She only had a 6th grade education, but she read her Bible all the time. She loved to go fishing and would sit for hours wearing her sun bonnet, even if the fish were not biting. She said that is when she talked to God. She taught us about hand-sewing and crotcheting doilies. She was also the family historian, showing us pictures and telling us about her family…guess that is why I am now the unofficial family historian! She developed Alzheimer’s and slipped away from us long before she went to be with Jesus.

    My maternal grandmother was like a second mom to me, I suppose because I was the first and oldest grandchild, and my mother had 6 children. I spent weekends with my grandparents in “town” where I helped with housekeeping on Saturday and went to church on Sunday! She taught me about Jesus, sewing on a treadle Singer, and how to be a “Lady.” I always loved that she wore scented body powder, and to this day, I don;t feel completely dressed in summer until I, too, put on lavender scented body powder!

    I loved both of my grandmothers and appreciate their love of Jesus more and more with each passing day. They modeled to me how to be a Godly woman. Thanks do much for sharing your memories today!

  21. My Grandma and Grandpa Brittain were both like your grandma. I would stay with them every other weekend as I was growing up. From Grandma, I learned sewing and playing Solitaire, and to appreciate growing peaches, apricots, plums, tomatoes and fresh green beans from the garden. From my Grandpa Oscar I learned mowing the grass with a reel mower, the importance of collecting rain water in a barrel, playing Chinese checkers, and how to “thump” a watermelon to see if it’s just right for eating. They passed on to me simple lessons, but most of all the importance of God and family! Grandpa went to Heaven first at 89 years, and we lost Grandma in 1999. I look forward to Heaven to seeing Jesus and seeing Grandma and Grandpa B again. Maybe we can all enjoy a ripe, juicy watermelon together!

  22. My mother Vera Elizabeth Attwood who died 2 years ago after a 10 year long battle with Aphasia. She gave her life to the Lord when she was 7 years old and was a marvellous Christian witness all her life.

  23. OMYGOODNESS…..talk about a trip down memory lane….you really took me back today!! Your Grandma and my grandma Rose DEFINITELY knew one another and are probably sitting in Heavenly rockers right now, nodding and smiling down as they watch us process the lessons and legacies they left!!!

  24. I, too, REALLY enjoyed this morning’s entry. My mind instantly flashed back to my summers in Alabama with my granny. Our show was Young and the Restless and our drink was Sanka Coffee! ha,ha,ha. It’s funny because I can’t stand the smell or taste of coffee now but back then, at the age of nine, I cherished that time with Granny and feeling like a grown up. Sadly, she passed away when I was twelve but I will forever remember and hold dear those times that we spent together. And like you said, there weren’t any trips to the mall or anything fancy. I would do laundry with her, shuck peas, and make preserves and pack them in mason jars. All these years later and I still think of those as the best summers of my young life. I wish my daughters had those type of experiences with their grandparents. Thanks for sharing this today. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane.

  25. My mother in law, Esie was the truest example of love I ever saw. That was her legacy to all of us. I married her second eldest son when I was just 16 years old and she adopted me into her already (huge by my standard) large family of 14 children. She never spoke ill of anyone, she was kind and considerate at all times. She loved my father in law with the deepest love I have ever seen. She worked hard all her life and loved the Lord in word and deed. Tomorrow is the anniversary of her graduation to the Bridegroom’s supper table and while I still miss her I know a part of her is with us still in my heart and I strive to reflect our Savior’s love as well as she did when she was on this earth.

  26. My Grandma Ruby! She taught me that God is the answer to anything and everything! She is the strongest, most loving, best biscuit making grandmother I know. I love her very much!

  27. My grandmother was called Mother Hays. She truly loved unconditionally. One of my best memories was of my siblings and I going anywhere and we’d ask “Mother Hays – we’re going down the road. Want to go?” She never once asked where were we going. She’d just say “let me get my shoes on” and off we would go. She was one of the “bunch”. Love and miss you Mother Hays

  28. My sister, Ann Humphreys, was a wonderful godly example in my life. She was married more than 50 years to her husband, who did not know the Lord as Savior until the last eight (8) years of his life. All this time she was praying for him and teaching their four children about her Lord and Savior and keeping them all in church for all those years. Now the children are grown up with families of their own and are leaders in the church. Her legacy goes on through grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Last October she went home to be with the Lord she loved so much. She was my hero.
    Gail

  29. There are several woman that come to mind. All givers of time and talent. One woman has made over 100 rugs from old sheets to sell at a thrift store to raise money for missionaries . She gets the sheets from differently places life thrift stores for free. Another woman gives of her time to teach little forks to see and look at things differently in a crafting sense.

  30. My great grandmother, we used to call her ‘Tita’; she too had underwear like your grandmother…oh how she love her family, she taught me how to wash at the age of five, always handing me her handkerchief to wash and would stand over me giving me directions.

  31. My mother “Gagace” (Altagrâce) is a very shy Super woman who started her journey with God at a very young age while she was leaving in an environment filled with vodoo (not easy) but she did it and taught us the value of choosing your own battle in life. As a child she tough us the fear of a God who is omnipotent and omnipresent: Why not going to the king when you have access? no time wasted.
    Mammy is very strong. She never worked outside of our home although she had the tools and capacity because God and my father had another job for her: Leaving us an inheritance of strength for life. It was mandatory for the girls to know how to be a princess and/or a hard working woman. We learned how to cook, to hand wash clothes, and to sew beside going to school full time. At the time for me it was misery, too much when all I wanted to do was play especially during vacation. These tools, with the grace of the Lord, helped me go through very hard time living in the Stated as a single mother with my three children: when I was out of job, I started to cook for families who did not have time, I opened a cleaning company supervising the staff and cleaning when short of staff. I cooked for my family instead of spending more money in ready to eat meals. my children enjoy leaving in a clean house all the time, the like having everything in order in the house. Most She taught us to stick to our choice to have family and be good to others even when we are dealing with tough time. At eighty years old she find time to go around the city that sometimes can be dangerous to visit sick people and pray with them in hospital or at home. Mammy has after school program for my nephews, she supervises the home where my brothers live with their families. It took me to grow to understand that at a period of her life she used to wear the same nice blue dress to weddings, parties and other gatherings where we would be invited not because she liked it but because she did not have the opportunity to afford one for her and still dress us nice all the time, still send us to private school, piano lessons at a time when my father (a lawyer, president of the human rights in our country involved in all activities to defend people against a dictatorial regime) was incarcerated.
    Today I can say that by the grace of God I am blessed to hear my younger son tell me how amazed he was at 10 years to see me taking care of them and myself without having a job and being able to struggle and do “all that”

    My mother gave us an inheritance for life: She tough us the “how to do the simple things in life while believing that we can do anything by the grace of our supernatural Father.

  32. My sister Ann is a wonderful example of a very godly woman. She is not perfect, of course, but she has shown the utmost patience, love, and perseverance under very trying circumstances. She always does her very best to be the woman that God would have her be.

  33. My daughter. Yes, I said my daughter. My beautiful Christine. She was born again about five years ago. She invited me to attend church services with her. I resisted, at first. Then, I started to see the changes in her that were coming from knowing Chris Jesus. Little by little, I started to think about those changes and what a beautiful person she had become. A beautiful, Christ loving Christian. She asked me again and again from time to time. One day I went and then I didn’t go again for a while. She was gently persistent and I gave in. I am now a new born again Christian. It’s the best choice I’ve ever made. Who would think that the daughter would change the mother? It’s true. She surely did as I sit here and type this comment. Thank you GiGs for these daily devotionals that provoke thought and memory and responses to your columns

  34. My Mom, Philomena was a woman of God. She led by example. Christ was the center of our family. She did not fail to ask each and every day and also not bother about us getting angry of being reminded (each and every day) whether we said our prayers before we got out of bed, said our grace before and after meals, prayed before leaving to school/college/work, prayed for the driver ( of the bus/ auto(tricycle)/train) as may be the case, prayed before going to bed. We had our family prayer every evening at 7 pm. It wasn’t an option. It didn’t matter if we had a lot of homework, were tired or hungry. Mom instilled in us the Biblical truth -Put God first and everything else will follow. I thank God for Mom. I miss her a lot. She went to be with Jesus in 2010. She’s left behind a legacy for her children and grandchildren and I hope to follow in her footsteps.

  35. Girlfriend, i’m i going through some rough times in my place of work! But according to Ephesian 6 i take my stand.

  36. “According to Ephesians 6, I am taking my stand!”, in Jesus’ name. Amen
    God richly bless you for reminding us to put on the whole armour of God daily. First thing before getting out of bed is the key thing to do.

  37. According to Ephesians 6, i am taking my stand!

    According to Isaiah 54:17, no weapon fashioned against me shall prosper and i confute any tongue that rises against me in Jesus Mighty Name.

  38. According to Ephesians 6, “I’m taking MY stand”!!…. In the mighty name of Jesus, I shall be whatever God wants me to be!… I am so thankful for your post!!… I receive the G.I.G, emails and I LOVE them!.. I bless the Lord for you and all the inspirational writers in his name!!… May the Holy Spirit continue to bless you, and anoint you with the wisdom to help feed his sheep!! 🙂

  39. “According to Ephesians 6, I’m taking my stand!” Thanks for this word!!!! It was well needed.

  40. I was so blessed by this this morning. I raised three children through and after a difficult marriage and divorce. They all went to Christian school and college. They all married of like belief and now my sons have been betrayed by so many Christian leaders so much so that they don’t only NOT go to church but feel that they were led astray by these Christians and want nothing to do with church or God. My daughter who is married to a pastor hasn’t spoken to me for going on two years. Which means I have two grand children I have not seen for two years. My heart breaks every moment of every day.

    This was really an encouragement. I can’t supply my kids or grandchildren with “stuff”, but I do pray with a broken heart and that will have eternal dividends. I needed to be reminded of that. I need encouragement every single day or the enemy so defeats me. Thank you.

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