Good Stock

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The beautiful ladies in the picture are my mother and my grandmother. Mom will be 76 this year, and Grandma Renner will be 93. While both of them have had minor health problems, nothing has slowed them down much through the years. And those “nothings” include adversity - both of these women have had plenty of it. My grandmother had 14 children in her years on this earth… and not always in the best of circumstances. My mom, as the oldest, did alot of child rearing prior to having her own children (she, however, only had 2 children - wise woman that she is!) My mother was born during the depression, her father was killed in a train/car accident when she was just shy of three. There was a time in her life when she was raised by family other than her mother. And through all of that, they didn’t have two nickels to rub together. There’s been more adversity, but this is enough to make most people stop and look at their own lives differently.

My mom is involved in Sorority, New Friends, Red Hat Club, a golf league, two bridge clubs and a Mexican train club. She also co-heads the “Senior Group” at her apartment complex, along with her friend, Mary. My grandmother still grows vegetables in her garden and, with some help from a few of my aunts, still puts up tomatoes, corn relish and green beans each year. Amazing, isn’t it? While both women have retired from paying jobs, neither has retired from life. Suffice it to say, I come from “good stock”.

This is one of those times when I think I understand a part of God’s plan in my life. I am sure these women are a part of my life for a major reason. Those days that I’m ready to “chuck it all” because of some preceived injustice in my life, I look at these two ladies. Nothing I have gone through comes even close to the things they have. And I have never once heard either of them say “I give up!”, or heard them whine about the things that have happened in their lives. While I have done both whine and say “I give up!”, I still cling to that “boot strap” mentality that leads me to pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. These women are my example of that. God’s grace allows me to see that example for what it is.

So today, as I thank God for the many blessings He abundantly pours on me, I will remember to include Mom and Grandma. He does give good gifts, doesn’t He?!

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