Today, I am missing my grandma.. I actually think about her at least once a day. She has lived up to her name.. Petra.. which means rock. She has been the anchor and source of love for her family.. she has been my inspiration. She has taught me how to love, how to forgive, how to carry on when everyone else would crumble..and how to be humble.
She loves to laugh and some of my most favorite memories of her are when she would watch "I Love Lucy". She would have to have the tissue box next her as she would laugh so hard she would cry. I learned how to enjoy a moment, to be present in joy.. even when everything else is stressful .. I learned how laughter could heal, and how it could soothe.. and how it made a normal day brighter.. I love to laugh.. ask anyone who knows me.. it's loud and from the deepest part of me. I think some people get upset when I laugh loud.. but that is one thing I would never trade in for the fear of opinion.. I learned from the Queen how to let it engulf me and fill me up with warmth.
I remember being at Bible College and coming upon this sketch in a friend's room.. It actually stopped me in my tracks.. Never, until that moment, had I thought of Jesus laughing. I just thought of Him as a serious man who required me to be serious...It was a life changing moment.. to realize that humor, laughter, JOY truly did come from God.. It would still take years after that for it to sink in.. The Joy of the Lord is my strength.... no matter the circumstance.. who knew that all those years my Grandma was showing me Jesus.
Our April quarter has started and this is a phott of the CBCC ( Chronological Bible Core Course) students taking a much needed break at our Aloha Day. I am privilaged to be their school leader and to be a part of their growing process. As they study the word and contemplate the applications they can make in their own life I am praying that they will see the beauty of God. I am praying that as they are overwhelmed by the beauty of who Jesus was on earth and that it will fill their bellies up with laughter. I pray they will be so touched by the tangible presence of God their lives will never be the same. This laughter, this Joy.. it can change us from the inside out.. Thank you Grandma for being a 3-D picture of Jesus to me.. may I be one for others..
