My mother related that her mother, (my grandmother), had a favorite petite homily. This lovely bit of advice was that golden threads connected us to Heaven. A filament so thin and fragile in it’s beauty and meaning, but with unworldly strength unknown to man. A love so great it’s unfathomable.
It was another timeless saying that had passed from generation to generation, perhaps for hundreds or years or maybe she had just picked up the pearl of wisdom in this century during her many travels. My grandmother was well-travelled for a farm girl from Nebraska. Her mother was sent out to work at eleven years of age and then married a farm hand without a farm, so she continued to work on other people’s farms and started her family while doing so. So my grandmother’s traveling began at her birth and as soon as her mother had recovered from childbirth and well enough to move to the next farm. Eventually they moved into town and her father just moved from farm to farm and sent his income home. My great grandmother had to become self-reliant, especially when the depression hit. She brought in income by sewing, doing laundry, up cycling (before it was popular), taking in boarders, setting up her own beauty shop and working as a nanny. As my grandmother grew up, she followed in her independent mother’s footsteps. She went to college and she became a career woman. She worked as a book keeper for a well-known insurance company based out of the midwest.
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For fun she went to dances, sang in a choir, went on a lot of dates and travelled the United States performing on a drill team sponsored by her employer. She was also an accomplished pianist and was offered a tour to Europe, but for reasons buried and left undiscovered, she did not take up this amazing opportunity and decided to never play the piano again. Throughout all of this and for the rest of her life, she kept a prayer book at her bedside and read it on a regular basis.
This belief that there is a beautiful golden thread tethering us to heaven describes the power of faith and the miracles that occur in our world everyday. Miracles that are inexplicable and affirm that there is a greater power at work here. A power that’s a gift.
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When I was child, I was named by a rabbi, attended Saturday school, learned Hebrew and my name was installed on the Tree of Life. Eventually, Life changed and my spiritual journey began. I attended many houses of worship and found something valuable in each one.
With experience, I let what I had learned as a child go, because with knowledge comes a new path.
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There are many different religions in the world; up to 4200, per Google. Christianity is the most popular, followed by Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and then Shintoism. New age thinking has emerged and the concept that we are spiritual beings more than anything else. Spirituality doesn’t require structure to exist.
My grandmother has been gone for many years now, but I keep her homily close to my heart. It’s a small beautiful idea, but it’s everything too.
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