I loved visiting my grandparents. Some things never changed in their homes.
My mom’s parents lived near Washington, D.C. with its museums and historical sites. Funny, though, I really got charged up by the endless supply of sweet cereal and cartoons on a TV that, unlike ours, worked all the time! Who could forget Grandpa Brackett’s repeated efforts to teach us algebra. We boys would hug the ice-cold window air conditioner on hot DC summer days and sneak ice cubes from Grandma’s freezer.
Grandma and Pappy Yeagley lived in a different world. Their simple home in the Pennsylvania mountains was low-key and a throwback to an earlier day. The four Yeagley boys had time to roam the woods and make dams in the nearby stream. I cherish the memory of Pappy’s wood-fired stove with an ever-present tin of crackers on top. When Grandma Yeagley made dumpling soup, I thought I had died and gone to culinary heaven!
Now I, Poppy Yeagley, await Emmaline Kate Short — my entry into the world of grandparenting. Some say my world is about to change, but should it?
Everyone’s excited — aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandparents, two sets of grandparents and friends. Jamie and Andrew are making last-minute plans, decorating, organizing, and learning to breathe right. No doubt, their world is really about to change in so many wonderful ways. But after some soul-searching, I’ve determined that for Emmaline’s good my world should not change.
What will it be in Poppy and Grammie Yeagley’s life and home that is Emmaline’s constant? Will she remember reading books with Poppy? Cooking with Grammie? Big meals with the “Hosteter gang?” Will she ask her mom “why do they always . . .” and hear her mom say “that’s the way it was when I lived in their home?”
In today’s world change is “in.” New styles. Faster computers. Fancier cars. Hipper worship. We’re better off, right?
I’m typing these words on an iMac with an iPhone charging at my side. Spotify is playing on my big Klipsch speakers. Emmaline, I hope, won’t find me dressed in 1970s polyester. But will she find something constant in my life that she can lean on?
In Deuteronomy 11, God speaks with post-Exodus Israel. “Love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always” (vs. 1-emphasis mine). He reminds the seasoned Israelites that they’ve seen God’s punishment, His greatness, His mighty acts, and his protection in the wilderness. “Your eyes have seen every great act of the Lord” (vs. 7).
God knew that a new day and generation would need the wisdom of age and experience as they faced crossing the Jordan. That’s why in verse 18 He says, “Lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand . . . You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them.”
Now is not the time for Poppy Yeagley to be progressive. Now is my time to cherish every tradition, teaching and truth that has stood the test of time for generations. Simple truths and realities that Emmaline (and everyone else) can see unapologetically posted on the doorposts of my home and heart. To reach out and touch every time she visits.
Proverbs 13:22 simply says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” Don’t wait. Grab your chisel and head for the doorpost. You’ve got some writing to do!
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