One of my grandmother’s favorite songs was “Royal Telephone,” and it sang about how we can talk to Jesus anytime we want for free, and that the phone line is never busy when we choose to call him. She showed me how to talk to Jesus like he was right there in the living room with us, and my grandma was never too busy to make me feel like I was the only one that mattered at any moment I needed her. Of course, she also baked amazing things and sewed beautifully, like no one I have ever known, plus she could host a whole house full of people on the spur of the moment without working herself up too much about it. At just under five feet tall, she could even make the men who were acting like boys straighten up and listen to her barking command. Her legacy lives on in those of us who knew and loved her, and I’m really looking forward to getting a big squeeze from her in heaven again one day.
I don’t have grandchildren yet, but I’ve been thinking lately about what legacy God wants me to pass along to them. We live in a different time than my growing up years of the 1970’s and ’80’s, and my grandkids will likely grow up during the 2020’s, ’30’s, and ’40’s. It’s hard to imagine the future, isn’t it? I always thought I’d have a vehicle like the Jetson’s and that I would be able to shop by reaching into my television, but I never imagined smart phones, the internet, or that the United States would be embracing gender confusion or celebrating chaos and destruction on the news.
Rather than trying to imagine what the future is like, I will focus on the only day that matters in this life… today. Today I will do all that I can to give others words of encouragement, hugs, care for my family, share my gifts with others, be productive, be grateful for all that I have, and live fully another day in joy and peace. Because I am learning to trust fully El Elyon, the Most High God, and focusing on being a vessel that Holy Spirit can flow through to shine a light and love for others, I am also walking in the calling that God is showing me for my life.
This is the legacy that I hope my grandchildren will write about me someday:
My grandmother was the bravest, boldest woman I ever met, but she wasn’t like other grandmas even though she had the softest lap ever. She loved Jesus so much that she never stopped talking about him, except when I had something to say and she made me feel like the most important person in the world. I’m pretty sure that she either flew on the wings of an eagle or built an invisible bridge brick by brick across the giant chasm that she had to cross when she and my grandpa divorced after a really hard 30 year marriage, but then she met Perry, who made us all laugh. I want to be like my Grandma, because she never stopped smiling, hugging, or loving people, even when things were hard. Oh, but those hands! She showed us how to pray with power and praise with her hands up like no one was watching. I’m pretty sure that she had God’s power in those wrinkly, shaky hands of hers that loved to write stories, but never baked us cookies like regular grandmas did.
Written by Steph on Sept. 11, 2023
In memory of Clara Belle Pavlis, April 21, 1927 – October 7, 2016
https://www.kotrba-smithfuneralhome.com/obituary/clara-pavlis