"Brownie"...miss her every day!
Have you ever received a gift from someone that came as a complete surprise? If you have, you know that those gifts are all the more precious because there was no expectation involved and it left your heart open to chance. God does that for us often when we can leave our chaos and craziness just for a minute...just drops an unexpected moment in our lap; a gentle whisper in our ear; a loving hug in our spirit. Can you recall one with me? What was your gift today from Him? Were you in tune enough, still enough, open enough to receive it?
"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10...a Psalm that commands us to discover the stillness in our days so that we don't miss Him. I unwrapped an unexpected gift that came to me in the form of a visit into my past. My family and I had attended a birthday party near the Atlanta area where my grandparents used to live. Out of stubborn curiosity, even though we were running a bit late for the party, I told David that I felt a tug to go by and see if their old house was still in the same place. This house was where I spent many a summer day with my cousins swimming, learning to garden,; taking care of my grandmother who had Parkinsons disease and never hearing her complain. This was a place where love lived, and where it was filtered into the hearts of all who were there. This house was a haven; a place of safety and depth ---of words not spoken, but lived. Pop and Brownie, as they were affectionately called, were the people who made this tiny little house another home. They taught us all the value of laughter, the meaning of forgiveness, the beauty of spending time, not money; they taught us what true love looks like; who Jesus is and how He loves; and they taught us that no matter what comes your way, there is good in it, and grace in it.
So, the gift? As we rode down their old street that day, there it was...there was the house, staring back at me as if their own eyes were the ones looking out the windows. I pulled in front, ready to take a picture of just the outside, when my heart (and my husband) prompted me to go in...to take a step towards the unwrapping. Knock! on the front door to Martha, who kindly answered the door to my already-falling tears. As I let the words come, I found myself telling her who I was; who they were, and she welcomed me in. Oh, the smells, as if it were thirty years prior and I was a little girl in pigtails running to their arms. It smelled the same, looked the same; and there I was walking on the same wood floors that I slept on so many years ago. Walking the halls and touching the walls, thinking "Boy if these walls could truly speak..I know what they would say. They would say LOVE LIVED HERE and I REMEMBER YOU. As I journeyed from room to room, I was shredding one piece of wrapping off of this gift at a time..being still..taking it all in. I saw the piano and singing together. I saw Pop dancing with Brownie cheek to cheek. There were cries for joys and sorrows I saw us helping Brownie get dressed because she was too weak to do it on her own, and yet she was always strong enough to slip mountains of wisdom into our hearts. I saw us playing Uno and eating Cheetos at the kitchen table; and yet another vision flashed of just pure laughter, even when Brownie felt her worst, there was always laughter! There was always roast beef, ham and cantaloupe...there was ALWAYS love!
There are few moments in life, markers on your timeline, that touch you in ways when words cannot even come close to capturing what your heart feels. This was one of those moments..I was still, God was speaking, and I heard Him. What was waiting on me was one of the greatest gifts I have ever received... a walk through a place where a part of who I am still lives. That little girl in pig tails who was given the gift of Pop and Brownie, the house on Castlewood Drive and a beautiful legacy that I rediscovered that day! I am forever grateful for the stillness and the gift..so unexpected, yet so timely from my Jesus!
Pop and Brownie's room
The one guest room
The living room and dining room
The kitchen (which had been redone) but it still looks the same
The hallway
The beautiful place that we LOVED, and that LOVED us in return...
Love lived here because it lived in two people who shared it with everyone they knew.
What a gift!
