Daily Archive

I posted “A Legacy of Faith” a few days ago and shared some memories of my grandparents, describing how much they influenced my life and my walk with God.  As I mentioned, I was blessed to have all four of my grandparents to the age of 22, and Granny (Louetta Sanders Pyles, pictured above) was with us until November of last year when I was 46. 

As part of my tribute to Granny at her funeral, I shared a story that had taken place the previous Christmas.  All of us had gone to the nursing home one afternoon to visit with Granny, but I returned there by myself later that evening so that I could spend a little more time with her.  Even though she was 1oo years old, she would frequently sit up quite late at night reading her Bible.  So, it sort of surprised me to find her in the bed with her glasses off, apparently ready to go to sleep.  I pulled a chair close to the side of the bed so that she could see me and hear me better.  We proceeded to have the deepest and most spiritual conversation that we ever had. 

One of the subjects that we covered that night was forgiveness.  Granny told me that a few weeks earlier one of the nurses had hurt her when she was helping her bathe.  I am sure that the nurse was not intentionally rough.  Granny was one of the favorites among the nursing staff, and they frequently referred to her as “Little Miss Independence.”  Still, it hurt.  In response, Granny said that she “talked right ugly” to the nurse and that the nurse “talked ugly” right back at her.  I can’t imagine what Granny might have said to her; I never heard her curse.  Well, she had used some “farm words” in my hearing when I was growing up, but never anything profane. 

Granny told me that she couldn’t sleep that night because she felt so bad about what had happened.   When the nurse came in the next day, Granny told her how sorry she was for how she had talked to her and asked the nurse to please forgive her.  She said the nurse started crying and apologized to her and asked Granny to forgive her as well.  They hugged and cried and made up.  Granny said, “We’ve been just the best of friends ever since.”  Even at 100, Granny was still teaching us how to forgive and how to ask for forgiveness!