The Greatest Gift

One of the greatest gifts I’ve gotten is a Bible.
I remember getting them as gifts when I was growing up, a tradition for my family. But this isn't about those times...exactly.

It isn’t just the fact that a Bible could, was, and is the perfect gift for someone (for me), but I never cherished them; and didn't really read them (which most of us are guilty of if we really are honest with ourselves). This time with this certain specific gifting, came both sentiment and purpose, so maybe I could cherish it more this time? I did, as it came from my Grandmother's passing. 

So maybe it wasn’t directly “gifted” to me, but my mom asked me what I wanted of her’s (to remember her by) when family were going through her things, and I had no clue to what she may have that I would possibly want. So, I didn’t really put any thought into it. I didn’t really know what, if anything, that there would be something of her’s I even wanted to inherit and/or could remember her by…
Truth was, that after leaving the farm, she did not own many possessions. Having downsized when she moved into the nursing home, there was really not much there to speak of (or keep), that would be all that worth it and/or last.

Furniture got picked through and divided by my uncles and such though, the china given over to my mom, and since those were most of the items she had, I didn’t know of anything left for little ole me in the meager lot…but I was wrong.

My mother mentioned to me that she had had a few Bibles in her possession, and did I want one of them? Since my Grandmother was a diligent reader and studier of the Word, a disciplined servant of God, I recognized that this memento could mean more and last longer than any piece of china, so I said: “Sure!”

I looked through what she had brought home and picked up the Amplified Bible. Looking through it, I realized that it was a more wordy translation than I was used to, and since I am wordy and love words, I instantly knew that this Bible was the right one for me. My mom said: “It’s yours”’. 

And so, now it IS mine, and it is the Bible I use the most.

Throughout it, every here and there, there are these highlighted parts; clearly verses that meant a lot to her or jumped out of for her upon some moment of study.  When I am reading and studying it myself now, I have marked it all marked up as well, while I’m still running into those highlighted ones she left behind. I always wonder what she was thinking, when, and why she marked a certain passage. I will never really know, but it is nice to see that she got much use from the text and thought about what she read. 

There was a moment, one day in church, when I looked at the front inside cover and saw her name there. I hadn’t seen it before, and there underneath it, was the year 1991. I guess, she either received the Bible as a gift or gifted it to herself that year. Under these both, in pencil, were the words: ‘Let my mouth be a well of sweet water’.

I smiled reading that, as it took me back to the talks we had and her passion for God and his Kingdom…

So there was something I actually needed of Grandma’s after all. 

Thanks, Grandma, for your legacy and I’m glad I have your gift.
I hope from the Word getting into me, that the ‘well of sweet water’ comes from my mouth also.

*I intend to pass on the tradition to hand out Bibles as gifts, but make sure my children know the importance in cherishing it...and passing it on.