When my grandmother passed away two years ago, there was only one thing I wanted--a little brown Bible, pocket-sized with a zipper that could keep it closed. The reason? My brother and I stayed with my grandmother after school and during summers until I was in high school. On days we didn't have school, our standard practice was to have lunch by 11:30, have it cleaned up by noon, and listen to the first fifteen minutes of a local newscast on the radio at 12:00. Nearly every day was like this. Then, around 12:15, after the weather and before sports, Grandma would turn off the radio and then we would read from the Bible. And I would use that little brown Bible. A Bible my grandfather had gotten in the 1940s. I would play with the zipper while waiting my turn to read. It was the King James Version and we frequently read from the Gospel of Luke, to this day one of my favorites.
In addition to getting the little brown Bible, my mother also gave me Grandma's Bible. It has a lot of sentimental meaning for me, and I am honored to be the caretaker of the physical representation of my grandmother's godly heritage. The Bible is certainly special to me in any form, but this one is more so. Even after my brother and I were old enough to stay by ourselves, Grand,a would still frequently talk to me about her Bible reading. She read the Bible every day. She would read it through every year, frequently getting done before the year was out and then starting over again. In her Bible was a reading plan from the 1980s that she used several times, first filling in the check boxes, then using x's, then cross the readings out with a line.
Other non-biblical material is throughout the Bible. Old bulletins, clippings of various poems or brief thoughts, taped into the front and back covers. Pages with thoughts or scriptures written out in Grandma's hand. Throughout the Bible are under linings and brief marginal notes--something struck her as interesting or important about this passage or that. Something observed in reading or perhaps gleaned from a sermon--she listened to many in churches or on tapes. She would often remark to me about the multiple listenings she did to my sermons--I knew Grandma would have something positive to say about it even if I didn't think I had worded something the best or had failed to explain clearly the import of what I was saying. Here, though, in her Bible is a way for me to remember what my grandmother thought was most important--God's word. Of all the things she could have passed on to me as important, it was that the Bible was to be read, understood, and applied.
I'd like to share some of the passages she marked. I wish she were still around so I could ask her why she marked a particular passage, although, of course, it is possible she wouldn't have remembered. For her, though, now, she is with the Word and needs not to simply read the word to know.
One of the first passages marked in her Bible is Genesis 13:8--"And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren." The context is the ever expanding flocks of both Abram and Lot which led to conflicts between their shepherds and other hired workers. To solve the issues, Abram suggests that he and Lot go their separate ways and divide the land so that there is plenty of room for each other's blossoming herds.
While I do not claim to know my grandmother's mind, I would guess that what was important or interesting to her about this passage was the phrase "we be brethren." Lot was Abram's nephew, and it appears Abram wanted to make sure that the conflict raging among their hired hands didn't end up separating Abram and Lot. Family needs to be united, not divided, whether that's biological family or spiritual family.
Grandma definitely liked to see family together. Family cohesiveness was very important to her. Holidays and family reunions dotted my childhood. Togetherness was very important. I think if Grandma had the opportunity to sag what this passage meant to her, it would be that whatever happens, work for unity, especially in the family. There is so much in our culture that works to separate and isolate us, even from those we should be close to. Families breakdown, refuse to speak to each other, go their separate ways. But don't foster that strife. Look for ways to draw back together, because we are family. Maybe that's what Grandma was thinking. If so, it is something a lot of us need to hear. Thanks, Grandma. I can't wait to see what else your Bible holds for me.
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