Jesus, I love Him. 

WALDMÜLLER, Fedinand Georg

The Grandmother's Birthday
1856

I like this picture of a grandmother, a daughter and the grandchild. 

I am struck by the sweetness on the grandmother's face. I see joy and sweet humility. 

A sincere gratitude. 

If I were to imagine the life of the grandma I would imagine it has been a long road.

 A life full of struggles and hardship. A life of toil for basic needs. 

Grain, vegetables and on special occasions .. meat. 

I imagine she had kneaded a lot of bread dough all her life, her hands have worked hard. 

And yet, what did all that toil get her? A life lived. 

Joy and humility. Love and devotion. 

Her daughter loves her. It would seem, from the painting that the daughter is faithful to her mom. She seems to know her moms needs and is giving back to her mom a small token of her 

affection and devotion. 

And who is probably the star of the show? The grandchild.

 Who could help but love the joy on that little persons face. How does that joy get there? 

How could the child be happy if there is a lot of toil? Maybe not a lot of resources? Maybe he is cold when he sleeps at night.

 But, I am not seeing that worry evidenced in his face. 

Instead he loves his grandma. He is following his mother's devotion. 

The power of a mother's love. 

3 generations of love. 

I wonder about the grandma. Where did she get that sparkle of joy, how did she receive the quality of humility rather then bitterness? 

I can imagine it started when she was a young girl. 

There were different types of distractions back in the old days. We are distracted by entertainment or whatever is the latest and greatest cool thing, 

they were distracted by the needs of the day - food and shelter, life and death. 

Never the less, still distracted.

I imagine this grandma as a young girl sitting by the fire with her family, her dad, now long gone faithfully reading the truth to her. Showing her something bigger then herself. It was probably quiet with just the fire crackling or maybe it was full of noise and life .. 

maybe babies were crying and pans were being jostled. 

Who knows? But the power of a transformed life was in the Word of Truth and the faithful love from her family. 

With that Word her life was filled with power and strength. 

Her life formed, one day at a time, one situation at a time by the truth - God's Holy Word.

As a young girl she probably heard the stories of how Jesus loved the little children and called them to come to Him. How he healed the sick, how He forgave the sinners. How He fed the crowds.

She came to understand that He is deserving of all honor and glory.

 He protected them and sheltered them - He fed them.  

Real life issues for real life folks. 

Maybe she saw her mom praying to our God of healing ... 

JEHOVAH-ROPHE

The Lord who heals

The stuff lives are made of and the stuff that will make us or break us. 

Maybe when they were struggling with a lack of food her mom would kneel with the children and asked as a humble child for their God to provide food .. 

JEHOVAH-JIREH

The Lord will provide 

Seeing the faith of her family, seeing the hand of the Eternal God reaching into their daily lives

 providing every need. 

And then recognizing His Holiness and Glory - humbly relying on Him for their salvation - the salvation of their souls and the food on their table. Maybe, that is how her joy and humility was fashioned 

That is how you get a beautiful face like that grandma's. 

A life aged and enriched by the Creator Himself. 

 .. she has had many years to age that humility, like a good wine. 

We could imagine that the spirit that was deposited into that grandma was deposited into the daughter. 

We can see evidence of that joy coming through in the grandchild. 

A life of hope.  

Choosing faith in Jesus. 

Paul Cézanne
Still Life with Apples and Peaches, c. 1905