In her follow-up volume to So God Made a Mother, author Leslie Means shares her personal experiences of her grandmother and invites numerous other women to relate theirs, too. Some of the contributing authors are grandmothers, others are granddaughters writing about their grandmothers, and still others relate stories about having an adopted grandmother.
The stories in this volume are as varied as the complexities of human nature, the differing historical circumstances, and the various personalities of the women being written about. Some grandmothers were traditional homemakers, always ready with freshly baked cookies or a nutritious meal. Others refused to fit society’s expectations, living spontaneously and wildly with their grandchildren in tow. Some grandmothers were recovering alcoholics or suffered abuse at the hands of an alcoholic spouse. Others were sheltered for decades in a happy marriage. Some were an open book; others carried dark secrets. Some raised large families; others suffered traumatizing grief with the death of a child.
Throughout the brief essays, the contributors repeatedly return to the theme of how God worked through their grandmothers or through the experience of being a grandmother to plant the seeds of faith in children. Contributor Hadassah Treu sums up this truth. In the 1980s during a dark, despairing time, Hadassah grew up behind the Iron Curtain in Communist Bulgaria. Yet, though Hadassah’s home life was harsh and violent because of her alcoholic father, God gave the young girl a Christian grandmother who remained faithful and secretly told Hadassah about Jesus. Hadassah writes, “God is a generational God. The seeds in one generation become mature plants in the next, bearing fruits in even more generations ahead. Everything we do and say matters and causes a ripple effect on the lives of the ones who come after us. ... Will I be faithful to steward this treasure and pass it on to the next generations, honoring the memory of my grandma and the women before her?”
Recommended as an encouraging, meaningful gift to show love and appreciation to grandmothers and mothers on Mother’s Day. (Tyndale Momentum)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.
