Saints in my Life- Violet-who taught me humility

I am going to blog for a few days about the Saints and saints, woven in and out of my life who have brought me to this point.  My grandmother, Violet, was the first, and maybe holiest woman I have ever known. 

She was married to my grandfather for more than 50 years.  She had 4 children, lost one, and spent her life cooking, cleaning and caring for her family.  My grandmother took me to church.  She would let me lay down on her lap and listen to the sermon.  Everyday, after she cleaned her already immaculate house, she would sit in her recliner and read her black bible until she fell asleep to take her afternoon nap.  She was strict and quiet.  I never understood her while she was alive, but now, having been married for 17 years, I get a little bit of who she was.

My grandfather was a difficult man, I think, for her to be married to.  He was a hard worker and a good provider, but he was not necessarily kind.  He certainly was not abusive, but he was not affectionate or soft spoken.  I don't remember him accompanying her to church except maybe on Easter or Christmas.  As he got older, he became more cantankerous.  I can remember her leaving the table, more than once, in silent tears, because of some offhanded comment he made that stung.  My grandmother never fought with him, at least in front of us.  She took his temper with humility and grace. 

If I ever uttered the words, "I'm bored" to my grandmother, she had two solutions to this problem.  One, she would send us outside to pick up sticks and two, she would have me memorize scripture.  I remember the day she handed me a bookmark with the Lord's prayer written on it.  She said "Do you know this prayer by heart?" and because I didn't, she instructed me to sit and learn it.

Maybe she knew how important that prayer would become to me as I grew older.  I cling to this prayer  every day, reciting it multiple times, and ask God to shy me away from temptation, to protect my soul from that which would destroy it.   I pray that I would have the faith to trust in God for my daily bread and not my own self.

But the lesson I learned most from her was how to survive and flourish in a marriage.  How to hold my tongue and my temper.  How to take my husbands bad days with grace and prayer.  I learned to take my children to church and to make it a time when they are held close in my arms. I have adopted her style of sitting quietly and staring out the window when times are difficult and my mood is edgy. 

I think of her whenever I see a rose garden or a red cardinal.