Day 5: Monday, March 6, 2017
Robin McKinley

 

Scripture: Matthew 5:9 (KJV) “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

 

Devotion: This verse always makes me think of my Grammy. I adored her and she adored me. In truth, everyone adored Grammy. She most definitely was a child of God, and she believed her grandchildren were children of God, too. She found little daily ways to make peace, and she taught me through her deeds about unconditional love.

 

When I was six, I had a terrible case of hives for no known reason. Later, the hives reappeared when I was slicing tomatoes, so my father determined that I was allergic to tomatoes. This was sad for me because I loved tomatoes. And, my grandfather was a tomato farmer. Whenever we would go to visit Papa and Grammy, we would tour whatever new development they had on their farm. Soon after the discovery of my allergy, we went for a visit and began to take a tour of his tomato greenhouses. Being one of five children, I was mostly invisible, but suddenly someone noticed I was there and I had to leave the greenhouse. I didn’t want to be left alone, but I never said a word. My angel Grammy took me by the hand and said “Come on, let’s go look at the flower garden.”

 

Around the same age, Grammy taught me to sew, and I had many hours of fun with her. Grammy would patiently show me how to keep the seams straight and how to put an applique on the front of a top. We invented appliques from the scraps of other cut out projects, like a fish that Papa teased was just a sucker. When I was too tired to go on, Grammy would notice before I did, and took me lovingly to bed.

 

Grammy died when I was 15. The only thing that brought me any peace was knowing that she was in the arms of God, as a child of God. I was given her Bible, and out dropped a piece of paper upon which was written the scripture “Blessed are the peacemakers.” That verse describes her life. Grammy was a peacemaker, and she made peace by giving her 18 grandchildren all the unconditional love it was possible to give.

 

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Spirit, Thank you for the peacemakers that show unconditional love. Please help me be a peacemaker in my daily life. Help me notice what others need so that I can add to their peace. Amen

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