Good medicine

        This morning was especially cold with a melancholy November rain making the sadness feel even more raw.  I looked around at the group huddling under the canopy at the gravesite as so many said goodbye to a woman who was leaving a legacy (and arguably an army) of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who literally wouldn’t be here without her.  I personally did not know GGMa, as the great grandchildren called her, very well, but am so blessed because of her life and the family that I now get to be part of.  There have been a lot of negative campaigns and villainous fairy tales about mother-in-laws, but I have the best, really.  I consider her to be a best friend and so the sadness of seeing her sad is what pained me the most.

         Several days earlier, my youngest daughter Lexi and I were talking about the upcoming days and emotions that would be there and I was trying to explain funerals and death to a three year old.  We then changed the subject and started writing out a thankful list.  I asked her what should be first and she replied “Grandma’s mommy.”  We said prayers together that night and she prayed “thank you God that I can make Grandma feel happy,”  we talked about her favorite memory verse and the one that says “A cheerful heart is good medicine.”  She said to me “Mommy, I will be that cheerful heart that can be good medicine to Grandma.”  There is not a lot you can say at moments of great sadness, but we can be good medicine to others that comfort and quietly state that we are there.  As I watched under that canopy, one by one each of the grandkids surrounded my mother-in-law, no prodding necessary and just embraced her quietly without letting go.  They are all young, but understood the power of comfort, cheering and hugs in this moment.  It was quite special to observe.  Lexi, on this afternoon, seemed extra full of that spirit as well.  Sometimes I marvel at the way God can work through children, where their little hearts and minds just know how to rise to an occasion that only they can really do.  She was boundless in her joy this day and brought a lot of smiles to tear stained faces. She gave lots of hugs and really lived out being the cheerful heart.  That night we said prayers before bed with Grandma and Lexi prayed, “God, thank you that this funeral was so fun.” We laughed and though it had been a day of mourning, memories and tears, somehow in there, the good medicine had eased the pain.   

                                             Proverbs 17:22  "A cheerful heart is good medicine."