Big Savings: This week only

Sunday afternoon following church I made my way to the big city of Mannington to visit my family and fulfill my weekly granddaughter duties. I can’t possibly continue without giving you some insight to my relationship with my grandma. My grandma is the most talkative, entertaining, straight forward lady I’ve ever known. She also happens to be my very best friend, my biggest supporter in life, and my greatest source of love. Our relationship is rare and I cherish everything about it…even when she tells me my jeans make me look poor (she doesn’t understand that I buy jeans with holes in them on purpose),my coffee taste like tar because it’s too strong, drives on the interstate( with a cigarette in one hand ) after my many, many attempts to stop her, or when she calls me at 7:30 on Saturday morning and is surprised that I am still sleeping. This lady makes me laugh and ages me many years at the same time but I still love her so much. Now that I have given you the rough and dirty version on my grandma let me continue with my babble. As I arrive in Mannington, my grandmother’s car isn’t in the driveway. I start laughing and begin thinking of the endless possibilities to where she could be. Knowing that she will eventually come home or that the state police will call me when she needs me to come get her, I head to my dad’s house. In the half of a mile drive from my house to my dad’s house I am distracted by the city cop on the side of the road and a car alarm going off continually. And then I see her. My grandma is standing beside the car that is causing all of this noise, smoking a misty light, and carrying her cane on her arm instead of using it correctly. She had activated her car alarm as she was checking her powerball tickets and the cop had stopped to help her. This was just another story to add to my ever growing list. Sometime after I successfully get her home from her afternoon adventure, we sat down to make her grocery list. It’s not really a list but instead she takes the sales add from the paper and circles exactly what she wants and then adds a few extra items. Sometimes (or every time), she circles items that she already has or she will want 10 of the same item because it’s on sale. Nonetheless, when I leave for the grocery store, I know EXACTLY what she wants and if she circles Country Crock butter I better not come home with Parkay butter. It took me awhile but I have finally mastered the skill of correctly buying all of her groceries or should I say she finally trusts me to do her grocery shopping and stops checking the receipt when I get home to make sure I followed her instructions.


My grandma gives me specific instructions for many tasks and many areas of life. Sometimes she doesn’t trust me and sometimes she just wants to make sure I listen. I don’t get angry but instead laugh and appreciate her wisdom and innocence in her “commands”. By listening to my grandma, I have gained so much from life and saved myself a return trip to the store on many occasions. Not only do I listen to my grandma and follow her instructions but I also listen to God. God hasn’t spoken to me audibly but he speaks to me through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. There are times when he is shouting at me with the answer I need but I can’t hear him because I am too busy frantically trying to find my answer on my own. How many times are we all guilty of not listening or not trusting God? I know I am guilty. And during those times when I stop listening and stop trusting, I struggle and life becomes so much more difficult. Life doesn’t have to be difficult friends. When we trust God and listen to his “commands” he takes care of everything and all we have to do is enjoy and appreciate this life. Think of your life as my grandma’s grocery list. God knows exactly what you want and exactly what you need and he has it circled in bright red pen. All you have to do is trust him and follow his instructions and when you do, you won’t spend extra time searching for whatever it is you need. Even if He says you need 8 cans of tomato soup because it’s on sale, listen because, in the end, it won’t just be the return trip to the store you regret.

Verse to remember: Deuteronomy 30:20 And that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.