Why everyone needs a Nana in their lives.
Hello Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying your Summer. I recently took a spontaneous trip with my mom to TN for some much needed family time. While it was not the happiest of occasion for visiting, I realized how much I had needed to see my family again.
While I was there, my mom and I stayed with my Nana. One morning I walked into the kitchen for breakfast. I started pulling out some fruit from the fridge and muffins from a container. As I was preparing my breakfast my Nana came in. You see, my Nana has this extra sense about food. If you are in the kitchen, she will come running to try to fix you something and even if you said you were fine, she will check five times just to make sure. This morning was no different. She asked if I wanted some hot tea and so she started to boil some water. Ten minutes later we were sitting at her dining room table with a pot of hot tea, delicate rose tea cups, cream and sugar, and little biscotti cookies. Mind you, this is in addition to the fruit and muffins that we were eating for breakfast. We had created ourselves a little tea party.
This is not the first time this has happened. When I was a child my Nana and I were always having tea parties. I would dress up and my Nana would wear one of her fancy hats. Instead of hot tea I would drink apple juice and we would sit and pretend we were having tea with Queen Elizabeth. While I have upgraded from apple juice to hot tea and I no longer dress up, we still find time during a quick trip to have tea.
The most important part of our tea parties was not the tea, but the conversations. As the years went by we stopped pretending to have tea with Queen Elizabeth and instead started to have conversations of our own. We would converse about moving to a new place, something that she and I both experienced a lot during our childhoods. We would talk about cooking and new recipes. She would tell me stories about her childhood and my great grandparents. These conversations sometimes migrated to the swing on her and Pop's big front porch or for a walk down their long driveway. As I grew older, I really began to realize and appreciate the importance of these conversations. No matter how far away I moved or what season of life I was in, I always knew that I could have a conversation with Nana.
One of the most important conversations that Nana and I had was about God. No matter what situation I was dealing with or problem I had, her response was always to trust God. She always reminded me about God's faithfulness and how he knows the plan for my life. One of our favorite scriptures is Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." She has always been so uplifting. If I ever needed encouragement I knew that she was going to pray in faith with me.
While we sat and drank our tea that morning, I received the same encouraging words of faith. Its not the setting of the tea party, or the porch swing, that makes these conversations. Its her faith and wisdom that she is willing to pour into my life. While most of our conversations are on the phone nowadays, I was really blessed that morning to sit across from her and listen to her wisdom and positive outlook on life no matter how bleak. I was reminded how much these conversations have meant to me over the years.
Everyone needs a Nana in their lives. Someone older who is willing to pour faith and wisdom into your life. Someone who is willing to listen and have a conversation with you. It may not be over tea or a walk, but coffee and a comfortable living room will do just as well. Find an older mentor. Find someone who will pray for you.
I know that I am not the only one that my Nana has poured in to over the years. There are many young women that she has mentored while she teaches them in her kitchen how to make her famous apple pies. She has a burden to impart wisdom to young ladies. Especially those who are in their early years of marriage. It is one of her ministries she has had the joy of fulfilling. This reminds me of the scripture in Titus 2:3-5, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." This is my Nana. She teaches what is good, she urges the younger generation to love our husbands, and to be self-controlled and pure and to cherish the word of God.
I have been blessed with my conversations with my Nana and I know we will have many more tea parties in the future to come. In between these times, I know she is praying for me everyday as she sits in her living room with her Bible open on her lap. I can only hope that I can be a small portion of what and who she is as I grow into the young lady that she has helped to nurture.
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