Last weekend I attended a memorial service for my 99-year-old grandmother. ( She passed exactly one month before turning 100.)
Just six months ago, I took her to get her nails done, and to Walmart to buy “cold cream”–and of all things–she wanted a padded bra! (She said she didn’t have much up there anymore and it didn’t look right!)
As I sat around all the relatives celebrating her life, everyone kept saying the same thing: Grandma LOVED beauty–from lipstick to flowers to sunsets.
After the service, I had the priviledge of escorting several of my elderly aunts and cousins to lunch and I noticed how slow their pace was. Of course physically they walked slowly, but it was more than that. It was as if their eyes were opened to a world I couldn’t see. One stopped abrubtly on the sidewalk and when I asked why, she pointed out the tapestry of colors on a particular flower. Another marveled at the beauty of the sky. My eyes were focused ahead and without her wonder, I would have missed God’s paintbrush strokes lingering right above me. Still another relative saw a praying mantis and actually stopped to talk to it, “Well aren’t you a pretty little thing! I swear you are looking at me!” All this beauty emedded between the car and the door to the restaurant.
Grandma would have noticed these things too! She had passed, but her legacy of seeing beauty was alive that day. While my seemingly purposeful, fast-paced walk tempted me to be a little irritated with their laissez-fair attitude, I realized their age had afforded them the key to unlock what most of us younger ones are searching for–purpose, fulifillment and a sense of belonging, independent of effort. My aged relatives experienced true life as they embraced the present, noticed beauty, and lived life confident of their place in God’s story that day.
I am certain, as I write this Grandma is experiencing an extension of the life she lived on earth. Her eyes are full of wonder at the beauty she is now beholding.
RELATED:
More is More, by Malory Hood
Beauty and Happiness, video resource
Captivating, book by John and Stasi Eldredge