READY AND WILLING TO GO?

I called her granny, although we were not related. Her youngest daughter was my closest friend for many years.

Granny was a remarkable woman. She raised her five (could have been six, I am not sure at the moment) children single-handedly to be responsible, loving people. She worked in a boarding house and up to the end of her days you would find her counting the cutlery after the dishes had been washed, or sheets and pillow cases when the linen was being put away. Old habits die hard.

Granny and I shared a love of plants, knitting and crocheting. In fact, after her death I received some of her crochet cotton and a round cloth that she had crocheted from my friend. I treasure that cloth and the one she gave me some time before she passed away.

Even though we were on good terms, granny was not always very fond of me. She and my friend shared a flat and, for a while, I would go around to fetch my friend for church services, or shopping, or other events that we attended together. Granny disliked being left on her own, and whenever she was feeling peeved at having to stay by herself of an evening, she would call me "that woman". "Is that woman coming to fetch you again this evening?" she would ask my friend.

"That woman", nevertheless, was fond of and admired granny greatly. She was a humble person and a perfectionist in all that she did. At ninety-odd, she was still making her own dresses, crocheting with the finest of cottons and crocheting hooks, the daintiest patterns, and knitting her own cardigans (with pockets)! Granny's eyesight was excellent for her age. Her work had to be faultless. She would undo lengthy pieces of knitting or crocheting because way down somewhere she saw a stitch which was incorrectly knitted or crocheted, or where the tension of a couple of stitches, or a particular row, was not up to par.

When she was ninety-three, they moved into my duplex as I was preparing to go overseas for a year.

One day she was sitting knitting at the dining room table by the open french doors overlooking the small garden, when I walked in. She was upset with herself and kept undoing her knitting because she was not satisfied with the way she was knitting the ribbing of the pocket onto the body of the cardigan. I again marvelled at the level of excellence she demanded from her own workmanship, because to me her work looked perfect.

Anyway, I again told her how much I admired the way she was still able to knit, sew and crochet and all the other things that she still accomplished at 93 - no one prepared and cooked a tongue for our Christmas meal or a wedding feast like she did!

She told me that she was tired and really didn't want to live much longer - she thought she might reach 94 but definitely not 95!

I replied that, if she was serious about not wanting to live longer, she should speak to the Lord about it and tell him that she was ready to go home to be with Him.

She quietly continued knitting for a couple of minutes, then looked up to me and said in a voice that put paid to such a ridiculous idea: "No, I want to finish my jersey first!"

I have heard someone ask: "If heaven is such a wonderful place, why isn't anybody in a hurry to go there?" Is it not true that even though we are believers, saved by the grace of God, we cling to life and still view death as enemy No. 1?

Yet, the Word says:

           "For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered
            up again..."  2 Sam. 14:14

and

            "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go
             to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
             and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14: 2-3

Am I ready for the Lord to come and receive me to Himself? Are you? We prepare to diligently for a week-end away, or a holiday overseas, reserving seats, applying for a passport and visa, finding someone to house sit or look after pets, discontinuing periodicals and newspapers, deciding what to take along, what to leave behind...yet, for the most important journey of all ...

Thank You, Lord, that even if we do not have a home of our own in this life, or perhaps have to make do with an inferior home, or just have a temporary home, You assure us that You have prepared a home for us in Heaven and that You will come and take us to be where You are. I am looking forward to being with You. Help us to be ready and willing to inhabit our heavenly home when You are ready to fetch us to be with You eternally.