A Heart For Children

Grammie Muriel Reading a Book To Some Of Her Grandchildren 

What a wonderful thing it is for a child to be loved unconditionally and know it! How do I know? It is because I was loved like that by my Grammie Muriel. 

My generation grew up at a time when many people really believed that children were "to be seen and not heard." Now that wasn't the case in our family for we were dearly loved by our parents, grandparents, our aunts and uncles. We were a closely knit family and most of the people around us were Christians. 

That said, let me also say that my grandmother went the second mile for children. Grammie was the best child advocate ever! When we visited her house, she treated us with the same respect and dignity that adults enjoyed. Her kindness went beyond the family to the community to the extent that many other children also called her "Grammie Muriel" just as we did. She never met a child that she did not love. And they loved her in return. 

As much as she cared for our physical comfort, her greatest priority was to minister to our spiritual needs. You could say that Grammie Muriel was truly a MISSIONARY TO CHILDREN. The name of Jesus was in every conversation we had with her. She helped us memorize Bible verses and whole passages of Scripture. She couldn't carry a tune, but she rocked us and sang to us. Sometimes she would have two or three children on her lap and a child standing on each rocker and holding onto the arms of her creaky rocking chair while she sang -- sometimes silly songs, but more often "Jesus Loves Me" and other hymns and Christian songs. One that I especially loved went like this:

When He cometh, when He cometh  to make up His jewels,
All His jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own.

Like the stars of the morning, His brightness adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty, Bright gems for His crown.

He will gather, He will gather the gems for His kingdom;All the pure ones, all the bright ones, His loved and His own.

 Little children, little children who love their Redeemer,
Are the jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own.

Grammie continually shared the Gospel with us and she taught us to pray, She took us to prayer meeting with her and made a habit of prompting us to join the adults in prayer. She was so burdened that we become people of prayer that she actually called out our names: "Brenda, it's your turn". "Andrea?" We didn't always appreciate hearing her call out our names, but we are very thankful today that she encouraged us in the way that she did. 

A verse that she quoted to us many times was from Matthew 19: "Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

Thank you, Jesus, for giving my grandmother a heart for children. I am so glad that you chose her to show the love of Jesus to ME and every child she ever knew. She is the one who led me to YOU. It was the best day of my life.