Greatness Passes

Late on the afternoon of October 22 I watched the passing of greatness. It was not like the passing of a baton in a track meet, that critical hand off when relays are won or lost. In those moments there is something definitive to see, something you know is coming and you already know what it will look like. It can look smooth, it might look like a stumble or even a dropped baton, but all of those are pictures you have seen before. They are just a part of what happens. On that day in October I saw the passing of greatness in a picture I had never seen before.

My 96 year old grandma died that afternoon. For 54 years I had come to know and love her as, Gram. There was greatness in everything about her. Pregnant at age 15 with the baby that would turn out to be my father, she married and entered a world she knew little about. Her husband turned out to be an alchoholic, an abusive man; but she was just plain great. There was greatness in the way she survived, how she raised her three kids, how she seemed to always have a good attitude about the things that made up life, and in being Gram!

She did not have any of the trappings usually assigned to greatness. She only had one bedroom in her house but most Sunday afternoons there was always room for eight grandsons and their parents. It was, as you might guess, a great place to be. Gram was also a great cook. Not all grandmas are, even though it seems like it should come with the territory. I loved her beef and homemade noodles along with mashed potatoes. Nothing like red meat and plenty of starch to keep a growing boy growing.

That day in October I sat by Gram's bed and listened to her labored breathing. I didn't know if she knew I was there, but I talked to her anyway. I let her know it was OK to let go and find her way to heaven. Remarkably,it was just short time after that when I saw the passing of greatness.

In one solitary moment she took her last breath and greatness left the room, it passed on. I wonder who was there to see that greatness for the first time in this place we call heaven. Would it have been Jesus? Maybe it was an angel or a loved one. All I know is that in one solitary moment that October afternoon I witnessed the passing of greatness.

A little over 2000 years ago the greatness of God came into this world in a small city called Bethlehem. He came in the form of a baby. His name was Jesus. What an incredible twist on the ways of this world. Greatness packaged in an infant and born in a feeding trough. No buildings or magazines named after him. No politicians courting him for an endorsement. No ambitions beyond giving His life away for others, even to the point of His death for their sins and the hope of eternal life.

Gram knew all of that to be true. No wonder it felt like I was watching the passing of greatness in that October moment. I was!

What about you? What do you know to be true?