Inherited refuge

Saturday in the Third Week of Lent

Lord, you have been our refuge
from one generation to another.
Psalm 90:1

The chair I sit in belonged to my grandmother. Its place was in her front parlor, a room set aside for formal gatherings and guests. Full of light and beautiful objects, this room was often unoccupied, and I liked to retreat there for its solitude.

Now the chair occupies the nook that is my prayer space in my home. And while this space is hardly formal, it is also full of light, and I realize I have inherited a place of solitude and retreat along with a piece of furniture.

So woven into my prayer this day is my grandmother’s presence. She was a person of faith, a matriarch in her small church in her small Midwest town in farm country. She was strong, and proper, and an artist. She also struggled with fear and anxiety.

But as I sit in her chair, it is her gifts and faith-full legacy that enfold me across the generations. Her struggles have long since been washed away. I am left with the knowledge that love endures. God redeemed all her past trouble and God can handle my present trouble now.