Thanks: MayaD
I had occasion to have a conversation with a co-worker and we discussed cooking and grandma’s. As is the norm with the Holy Spirit and I, my ears began to perk up in the spirit. My co-worker and I talked about how our grandmothers would make homemade french fries (what’s McDonalds?) and how hot and crispy they would be.
Why am I writing about french fries? Because the picture illustrates a scriptural principle. In Titus 2 3-5 we find the oft-quoted words about the older women teaching the younger women. This blog post is not about advocating for women to follow the stay at home “trad wife” model being espoused by many right now. If thats your thing, great. THIS post is about the loss of GRANDmothers. Burt we have grandmothers everywhere today, you might reply. What we have today is grandmothers generated by irresponsible reproduction. Grandmothers still trying to live vicariously through their children and figure out life. I can remember with fondness my own GRANDmother being in her little kitchen in the country cooking away and preparing Sunday dinner. Her attempts to conform me into Betty Crocker were often lost on me then. However now, as an older widow, I can appreciate the grandeur of her life, humble though it was. Today we, particularly in the black community and churches, are losing our GRANDmothers. In former days, we had GRANDmothers who held dignity, pride and respect. Not only because of their age, but because of the models they lived. They taught the younger generations about the history of who we are. They corrected our wrong headedness. They emulated what quiet worship and deep prayer looked like and the results there of. They might not have been bible theologians, but they had enough Word and Spirit in them to discern when Satan was trying to take us out and would intercede accordingly frequently, and loudly. Our french fry sessions were often the points in our lives when the old stories of injustice and the battle for right and rights were told. Those moments were were standards were set and expected to be met. If you grew up in the black community, not just church, any GRANDmother on the block could and would correct you and then inform your parents when they got home. This is sadly, no longer the case. We are dearly paying the price for this missing link.
Where have all the GRANDmothers gone?