Tip: Thank God for grandmothers!
When I was just a little boy, my grandmother on my mother’s side of the family would often come to visit. She would often stay for a couple of days before going back home, which was only about fifteen miles away. My grandmother was one of the sweetest people I ever met in my life! She was great at making homemade biscuits and old fashioned pulled taffy candy. I haven’t had anything like that in years and years, but I still can remember what it was like. Having my grandmother at my house was always an enjoyable experience.
When I became a teenager, I sometimes did things that were not very smart. I know that probably many of you can identify with that. During my teenage years, I was sometimes a real knuckle-head! Thankfully, I didn’t do anything that put me in prison, but as I look back on it, many of things that I did were just not very wise!
On more than one occasion my mother gave me a lecture about something that I had done that wasn’t very smart. She was very opinionated and could really “chew you up and spit you out” if she needed to! If my grandmother was at our house during one of my mother’s lectures to me and heard it, she would let my mother finish and then she would always say the same thing: “Don’t be too hard on him. He didn’t mean to do it.” I would sit there and feel like a dog because I knew that I DID mean to do it! But, my grandmother was in my corner, trying to defend me. I didn’t open my mouth because it was nice having someone there who was sticking up for me! But, I would often think, “Granny, I DID mean to do it!” But, again, I never said that. You see, I do have a little bit of sense!
That scenario did something to me that marked my life forever. In the following years, I would be in situations that could have led to a lot of trouble. Just before I got involved in doing things that were wrong, a little voice inside of my head would say, “Your grandmother is going to be defending you, telling your mother that you didn’t mean to do this. Do you really want her to have to lie for you again?” Oh, that would haunt me and, more times than not, I walked away from trouble because of my grandmother’s faith in me. I knew that she would be in my corner, again, supporting me when I got caught. I cannot count the number of times I walked away from trouble because I knew that my grandmother had a positive view of me and believed in me!
My grandmother believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. My grandmother believed in me before I believe in myself. My grandmother believed in me more than I believed in myself. My grandmother believed in me until I could believe in myself. What a wonderful gift to know that someone believes in you until you can finally believe in yourself and your own abilities! I will always be grateful for her love and devotion to me as I was growing up.
The fact that I had a loving grandmother is not isolated to me alone. I know that many people have had a grandmother who was perhaps the only one who was there for them when they were growing up. I realize that a grandmother’s love can sooth a lot of hurts. It is a beautiful thing to have people who are older and wiser than you to come beside you and show that they believe in you and want to stand with you.
Even though I will never be a grandmother, I am a grandfather and I want to always communicate to my own grandchildren that I believe in them and am standing by their side. I know the power that it will produce in their lives in the years to come. And, I want them to know that one day, when they face a difficult situation; there will be someone who will say, “They didn’t mean to do it.”
I know the power of belief and I know the power of love. It makes a difference in a person’s self-worth and causes them, in the end, to turn in the right direction. I am grateful for the fact that my grandmother was always there for me and I want to be like her when it comes to my friends and family. Don’t you?
Tip: Thank God for grandmothers!
Have a great week! God bless you!
Dr. Robert A. Rohm
