I recently read about an 87 year old woman who is one of those people we all know who is just full of very practical, down-to-earth wisdom. According to the article, this elderly woman was being interviewed after a hurricane had blasted the East Coast. She spoke of how devastated she was when she watched as the hurricane destroyed the huge pine trees that had been her pride and joy. “Those beautiful trees have been there for most of my life,” she said. “I could look out my front window and just give God thanks for them. I always felt like they were guarding and protecting me. I guess that is literally what they did for me during the storm. Oh my, now they just lay in a pile of total destruction.” She lamented.

There was a rather long period of silence after she had made those comments. Finally, the reporter asked her, “I see this has really shaken your faith. Just how will you ever go on living without those pine trees? Will you plant new ones?

“Absolutely not!” exclaimed the old woman. “You can’t for one minute think that after all of these years I’d let a little old hurricane take my faith away, do you?”

A little shaken, the reporter tried back-tracking a bit, but before he could form another question, the old woman spoke up.

“Come here and look out my window! Do you see what’s over there?  Those are the great Green Mountains of New Hampshire. I haven’t been able to see those beauties from here for over 50 years! Now isn’t God so good that he would repair my loss by giving me those mountains to look at? You see, God wouldn’t let a little storm ruin my faith. First He gave me pine trees, now look – mountains!”

Later on, that reporter was asked by his colleagues what that old woman was like. His response was simple – “She’s the kind of grandma everyone needs!”

Do you need a “grandma” like that?  Have the storms of life that have come your way kind of made you lose your bearings? Perhaps “grandma” in the story above has something to offer you.  When you experience loss, maybe a new perspective on things is what is needed. Is there a “grandma” in your life you can turn to for that new perspective?  It would certainly be worth the effort to speak to someone like her.