written by: Lisa Morgan
As a child I used to sit with my maternal grandmother "Granny" swinging to & fro watching the grass grow or so it seemed to me at the time. My Granny was a Poarch Creek Indian lady of small stature, although she was larger than life itself to me. I'd brush my Granny's salt & pepper colored hair & she'd regal me with stories of the past. She'd talk & I'd listen, which for anyone who knows me was quite the feat, for me to listen & not chime in, nonetheless that is exactly how it happened. Granny was very near & dear to my heart. I remember the last time I saw her she was swinging on the front porch & telling me she wouldn't be around much longer. She had a premonition & her life was filled with premonitions that came to pass, as did this last one. Granny was a gentle soul, a kind woman, a tolerant woman & a God fearing woman who loved her family.
The reason I told this backstory to you is because it was a everyday occurrence in my Granny's life to swing to & fro in her old porch swing with the chipped paint. It wasn't until I was writing my book Get Beach Slapped a couple of years ago that it dawned on me why Granny loved swinging on her front porch. I was sitting on my back porch or lanai for those who prefer a more colorful term for porch, anyway I was doing absolutely nothing suffering from writers block when it occurred to me how peaceful it was just to be still. I rarely am ever still much less quiet so for me to be both simultaneously was quite miraculous & yet there I was at peace. I began watching the birds tending their nests while singing a happy tune. The squirrels were scampering from tree to tree forging for food & chirping at one another, as if it were a choreographed. I noticed the bees being chased by dragonflies, while my cats were mesmerized by the dragonflies. My dogs would occasionally chime in just to make their presence known. It was as if an entire orchestrated musical was playing out in front of me, quite the comical musical I might add. I wondered if one of the squirrels might be the mother to my orphaned squirrel Baby Nutt. I suppose I'll never know.
Why had I not noticed this before? How simple it was to stop, to do nothing but watch quietly & learn. I hearkened by to the days of simplicity with my Granny sitting, listening & watching. Granny's escape from the stresses of her day was to sit, swing, watch & listen. I suppose I'll never truly know what she was thinking about as she would sit gazing at her yard. I was too young to understand what being an adult entailed or better still what being an aging adult entailed. I was young, vivacious, ignorant beyond belief, filled with wonder & love for my Granny. She never was too busy for me though she was a hard working woman. She never was too tired to talk to me even though looking back now I see how exhausted she was at the time. She had a gentle voice, a forgiving soul, a humble woman indeed. Granny's swing was her sanctuary, her escape, her solitude where she would be still & unwind.
It reminds me of the bible verse Psalm 46:10 "Be still & know that I am God....". I believe my Granny was appreciating the many wonders of God's hands, the beauty, the enormity, which gave her humbleness. I wanted nothing more than to become wealthy one day to buy my granny a big house & take care of her, but it was not to be since she died early one morning, while visiting my Papa at the hospital where he was suffering from a concussion & broken collarbone; after a fall from atop a barn he was painting. Don't ask it's a long story, much longer than this blog. So my Granny passed away one month before my 18th birthday & I never bought her a big house, but never expressed a desire for anything, other than what she had each day.
Granny taught me to be still even though it took 35 years for the lesson to sink in. I never claimed to be Einstein. My Daddy's birthday will be coming up in April, he would have been 77. Daddy died at age 67. My Granny passed away at 65, so forgive me if I get a little melancholy over an old porch swing with chipped paint. My desire these days is to obtain a porch swing, whereby I can swing to & fro doing nothing, while gazing at the awe inspiring creations of God's hands. I guess I'm a much humbler woman than I realized. Maybe I'm a bit more like Granny than I realized. Thank you God! It's time to feed Baby Nutt. Life is filled with miracles everyday, if we only be still long enough to enjoy them.
Have a blessed week,
Lisa Morgan
@thebeachwife on Twitter
author of Get Beach Slapped www.getbeachslapped.blogspot.com
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