The only true red head that we know of is couple of generations back and there is quite the story that I have been wanting to blog about. My grandmother, Granny, went to live with Jesus a few years ago so it's hard to put some of the pieces together but we do know a few things. Granny was head over heels for her high school boyfriend, Tom, so much so that they secretly eloped at the tender age of 15. Granny gave birth to my precious mom 9 months later. No one really knows which came first...the pregnancy or the marriage and it doesn't really matter. My great-grandpa, Pop-pop, understandably wasn't so happy about his sweet daughter being pregnant. He kicked her out for awhile and she moved in with Tom and his mother, the red headed witch (at least that's what Granny called her)! As the stories go, the red head was not the nicest of ladies. She liked to be in control of everything. She was also, as my mom put it, "a lady of the night." Granny said that she would kick her out of the house, 8 months pregnant in the heat of the summer whenever she would have a man visitor over. Granny and Tom had one more little girl together, my Aunt Lisa, and not long after they divorced. Granny would later say that she thought the red head had a lot to do with her and Tom's relationship not working out. As I grew up I remember hearing Granny say many times that red heads were just no good. I even remember trying to reason with her at one point and saying that not all red heads were bad news, maybe just a few. However, Granny insisted that red heads were just trouble. Granny was a little quirky like that. :-)
When I think back on this little piece of family history it is so hard for me to comprehend it all. While not perfect, my life has been a fairy tale compared to the struggles that my mom and Granny faced. Certainly, Granny made some poor choices along the way. However, she did the best with what she had and as she aged she sought God in her life.
My Mom made the same decision to seek God and it has made all the difference in her life and in mine. Mom never knew her earthly father, Tom. Her last memory of him was when she was 3 or 4 years old. She says she can't remember what he looked like but she remembers that he took her and her sister to see some ponies. She remembers her younger sister sitting on the pony and she was watching. I can't imagine the sadness that my mom has felt in her life not knowing her earthly father. However, I know that my Mom has rested in the love of her heavenly father.
When I look at my little red head I see Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you hope and a future." I know that whatever God has in store for Libby is much greater than anything I could dream up. Our family is in such a different place now than we were just a few generations ago because of God working. When people ask me, "Where did she get that red hair?" I immediately think of the red head and then think about how awesome it is that our little red headed Libby (and her red headed cousin Kelsey) are going to redeem the red head in our family. Libby will have the opportunity to know the love of Christ and to claim it in her life. I'm truly thankful that there is no fear for her future. While our earthly families may have been caught up in muck in the past, our heavenly father has adopted us into his family and we have new roots to dig deep in His love!
No comments:
Post a Comment