:: greatness is a life well-lived ::

history has a way of repeating itself...

Once there was a little girl with sparkling blue eyes who slipped in the church pew to sit next to an old widower named Mr Rulapaugh. God bound their hearts with love as such between a grandpa and a granddaughter...

Yesterday, that little girl, now an older girl, sat with glistening blue eyes in the church pew next to her own grandfather, now a widower, and discovered all over again the power of love....

Sometimes God has a way of striking my heart with understanding that takes me out of the moment I'm in and gives me a glimpse of the bigger picture and the eternal significance of the moment. That happened yesterday as I visited my parents' church. I determined to go not just to enjoy good teaching, but because my Grandpa was also there visiting for the first time, and I didn't want him to be alone. I sat next to him and held his hand while we sang. It was a moment of de ja vu, the feeling of "I've done this before."

And I had, 20 years ago, although I don't remember the conscious thoughts and quite certainly was not being "intentional" then, but merely a loving 5 year old (and my mom probably suggested the idea), sitting next to a grandfatherly widower in my parents' church. It was a God-orchestrated thing, and my mom later wrote a beautiful story about Mr Rulapaugh and me, and how God cares for His peoples' needs. (The story was posted in Christianity Today - read it here.)

And here I was again, this time sitting next to my own widowed grandfather. The significance of it touched my heart with understanding of God's mysterious ways. For even as I felt a lonliness those 20 years ago, there's a lonliness now. Yet it's so much more than about me, and I saw that quite clearly standing next to my dear Grandpa, and as I look forward to him moving here and sharing in mutual investment in each others' lives and sharing in love. And God touched my heart with thankfulness for my own aloneness, for in it I have the freedom to be there in my Grandpa's aloneness. God is good.

posted by FaithChristine @ 08:02