As a child, I loved simple days spent with my grandma. One morning while visiting her house, she found me a loosely stitched “purse” to carry my “treasures” in. We strolled down her street where I collected chestnuts that had fallen from a large tree. I perched beside her on the bus with my hand poised waiting for her signal to pull the cord alerting the driver that the next stop was ours. The memory is wrapped in a feeling of peace, confidence and the warmth I felt with her.
At the time, I didn’t know much about my grandma and her story. I didn’t know how much she loved her childhood West Virginia home, her family, the woods, the horses and the feel of dirt under her bare feet. I didn’t know that her generosity stemmed from her mother who lived by the maxim, “If you don’t give what you have, you’ll never have
anything to give.” I didn’t know that she had left the home she loved so much to pursue a career in nursing, graduating from the Medical College of Virginia in 1934. I didn’t know that she had been married and divorced before she met Grandpa and gave birth to their three sons. I didn’t know that her ability to see silver linings allowed her to be cheerful in many difficult circumstances.
What I did know is that she loved me and that love left an indelible imprint on my heart. I am different because of her love. I feel more assurance and optimism because of her love. I see others with more compassion because of her love. I love better because of her love. Grandma touched the lives of thousands she cared for in her decades working as a nurse and she changed forever the lives of those who were her own.
“It takes great love to feel the needs of someone else more than your own. That is the pure love of Christ for the person you nurture….As daughters of God, you have an innate and great capacity to sense the needs of others and to love…. Your trust from God is to nurture as many of His and your family members as you can with your love and your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (President Henry B. Eyring, October 2018)
His love and your love will change everything.