Grandma McMaster

Grandpa and Grandma on their wedding day.

Me, Grandma, Jack and my mom on Jack's first Easter. I love the pleased look on her face as she looks at Jack.

My Grandma McMaster passed away early last week after 80 years on this earth. It happened rather quickly and we were sad to see her leave, but we know she is now where she longed to be--with Jesus. She was a wonderful, loving grandmother and I'm thankful to have known her for 31 years of my life. Every other month, I write an article for our MOPS newsletter. Since Grandma was fresh in my mind, I decided to write about her impact in my life.

Living a Legacy

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what kind of legacy I want to leave for my family. In the day-in and day-out busyness and exhaustion of raising a family, I get bogged down in the details and have a hard time seeing the bigger picture of what I’m really doing. It’s easy to see what I’ve accomplished in a day, but in a lifetime? That’s much harder to envision. I mean, who is ever remembered for cleaning up the spaghetti that has been tossed on the carpet? Or for being really good at keeping our family’s schedule running smoothly? It’s not stuff that legacies are often made of.

I started thinking about after the recent passing of my beloved Grandma McMaster. My family and many friends were saddened the suddenness of her departure from this world. However, we all keep talking how thankful for we are for legacy she left for us all. She was a simple, down-to-earth woman whose life was definitely not easy, yet we all respect her and give her credit for passing down faith in God and being a person of love. The more I think about it, the more those two things, faith in God and faithfulness are the ways she left her legacy. She was passionate about the Lord, praying for the members of her family and devoting time to be with God every day. This gave her wisdom I sought out often. Knowing she was praying for me was comforting and encouraging, especially during the rougher patches of life. Faithfulness is the other characteristic we all admire about her. She cared for my grandfather for more than 20 years after he suffered an illness that rendered him dependent on her. She spent every day monitoring my grandpa and making sure his needs were met. Talk about mundane! Yet she faithfully loved and cared for him every day. Throughout my life she also spent hours of quality time with me, asking me questions, telling me stories, and planning fun things for us to do together. This was her legacy: one of love, faith in God and faithfulness in caring for others. This legacy was carried out in the midst of her everyday life.

So, as I think about the legacy I will someday leave behind, my grandma’s example helps me see how a legacy is formed not in the big moments of life, but in the “everydayness” of life. The decisions I make each day, even the most mundane ones, are all building toward the big picture. I want my family to know they are loved by God and by me, just like my grandma did for our family. I hope that my legacy won’t be about running my family’s schedule smoothly or some other detail of domestic life, but rather how my family felt loved and learned about God while going about the ordinariness of life. I’m so thankful for my grandma’s influence on my life and I pray that I will someday leave the same legacy for my family.