A Mere Twenty Grandma's Ago

Twenty Grandma’s Ago This year I reached a major milestone in my life. I turned 50 years old. The “big 50.” The half century mark. Yet apart from looking in the mirror (to avoid seeing gray hair and crow’s feet crinkling the corner of my eyes), it’s hard to believe so much time as passed. I can effortlessly drift back in time to when I was only 5 years old in Mrs. Davies’ kindergarten class at Taft Elementary. I remember marching across South Avenue on my way to school; crossing guard protecting us from oncoming traffic. Vividly I remember “faking sick” at St. Dominic’s Elementary School, insisting I go to the nurse’s office. What the nurse didn’t know was that we had just gotten a little puppy, and I just had to get home. I literally remember climbing on the kitchen counter top looking for candy. Instead I found a bottle of baby aspirin. I downed everyone of them. They tasted somewhat sweet. Every year my brother and sister and I woke up around 5 am, ready to unwrap our Christmas Presents. I loved my “The Easy Bake Oven, Silly Sand, and Malibu Barbie.” Apart from looking in the mirror I am “Miss Hawaii” in our annual Miss Avondale neighborhood beauty contest way back when; when I was about 7 or 8 years old. How could 50 years have passed so quickly? It’s strange how when your young, 50 years seems so…old. Now that I am 50, I don’t think I’m that old. I certainly realize that time is passing quicker than I would like, but I’m not an antique yet. I’ve also began to think about my grandma ‘s life. She lived nearly a century herself, and I’m sure apart from looking in the mirror at her really white hair and teeny tiny stature (she shrunk, so will I so I’m told) , in her mind’s eye she could see, feel and hear the sounds of her own youth. I am sure it was hard for her to grasp how fast time had passed for her. Perhaps her 90+ years went by as quickly as my 50. Even in her old age, it was amazing how she could recall the memories and times in her life that were decades and decades past. She was just a small child when she came from Italy and lived with her Aunt in a large house in Northern Ohio. Later she took care of her ailing mother. She would recall stories when she was a very young mother…maybe 18, who went on to have 13 children. When questioned about her very large gaggle of children, her eyes would widen and she would let out a little laugh and grin then throw her arms in the air. Her explanation revolved around a set of railroad tracks that were next to her house. During the overnight hours the roaring train would “rouse” or wake up my grandfather as he slept next to her. The result… 13 children. I heard he made a very big garden. Not all that long ago, living to be 100 years old was nearly unthinkable to me, but now that I am 50, and seeing how rapidly time is passing, I’m seeing 100 years in a different light. To most of us, the times of Christ, about 2000 years ago, are unimaginable. To be honest, sometimes those years seemed so long ago that it could be hard to grasp the physical presence of Jesus walking the earth. I can’t imagine wearing sandals and robe garments, living in a stone house, and eating figs or whatever they ate back then. I most definitely cannot imagine not having a bathroom, hot shower, body wash or Estee Lauder make-up. Let’s face it, the time of Jesus is so antiquated and so far removed from life as we know it today. But turning 50 has given me a new paradigm on time. It’s much shorter than we can imagine. I am beginning to see time and the life of Christ in relation to “grandma years,” or about a century, like about as long as my grandma lived. One grandma equals one hundred years. From that perspective, Christ walked this earth only “20 grandma’s” ago. No wonder the Apostle Peter wrote “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8) My 50 years is just a sweep across the clock, and my grandma’s 90+ years equals just a few hours. Since a day equals a thousand years, the 2000 years since Christ is only 2 days, or “20 grandma’s ago.” When looking at centuries in “grandma years,” it has somehow restored a freshness in the reality of the gospel in me. What has been written in scripture really is quite genuine. I don’t believe it’s been twisted and changed over and over again as so many bible critics claim. Twenty grandma’s ago God sent His only begotten son to give his life as a ransom for lost and sinful mankind. Believing in Jesus Christ and all who He says He is, isn’t much of a stretch. As Christians today we look earnestly for his second coming. The period in time when “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, not crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4) Hallelujah! Indeed, that moment in time will come as well. But we need to remember Jesus Christ is very near to us right now, and not afar off. Time has had no effect on His plans, purposes, or deep love for us. No matter where in time, He would have come to us. God has purposed our lives to be the center of His world, just as much as He wants is be the center of ours. I don’t know if I will live as long as my grandmother. But I look forward to being a grandmother someday myself. I can’t wait to tell my grandchildren the colorful stories of my childhood. I’ll call to mind how I baked my brother cakes in my “easy bake oven” and mud pies in the back yard. But much more importantly I hope to instill in them the very nearness of God, who walked this earth not so long ago after all. I also want to encourage them not to sell any of their “Barbie” doll clothes at a garage sale. They’ll do much better if they put them on e-bay.