~Firsts~

Today as I was driving home from work I read a group text from my oldest son Tyler.

In the family group text he stated: Sydney got the highest score in the whole 6th grade on the reading acadience test.

My response was: I’m not one bit surprised.

My second response hit me to the core of my every being.

My youngest granddaughter Ronnie is fighting every day to get off of oxygen and come home to her amazing parents. When this happens it probably won’t be posted in the newspaper or broadcast on the 6:00 p.m. news, but it will be one of the most profound days in Ronnie’s life.

I heard Ronnie cry for the first time on December 27th. I saw her for the first time on January 10th and I can’t wait to see some of her first moments become documented.

Her first trip outside the hospital room. Her first ride in the car, her first day in her new home and the first time she smiles at her mom.

Tyler is my first born child, his daughter Sydney is my first born grandchild and she has achieved a lot of firsts in her short 11 years of life.

She was the first grandchild to call me grandma, the first to smile at me, the first one to let me hold her hand and the first grandchild to try and understand my role in her life.

We think of being first as a privilege, an honor, a place of prestige. It can define a persons place in a classroom, a line at a social event, a major breakthrough in business, a gold medal status, the highest score on a test, and reaching a rank of having 5k followers on social media.

To be the first one chosen on a soccer team, the first pick of a litter of puppies, the first player to be drafted in the NBA, the first one to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, to be crowned Miss Universe or the first man to walk on the Moon.

Being first in our world today creates a place of status, a ranking, an expectation that this particular event or calling or achievement should get recognized.

I often wonder if firsts really matter in heaven. If they do, then my place there definitely won’t be first, but I know it won’t be last either.

If families do have the opportunity to be together forever, then there is a pre-existence and heaven is indeed a place of peace, serenity and love.

I believe the things that really matter here on this earth may not be the same things that matter the most in heaven.

Our relationship with God is sacred and is achieved through a lot of internal growth that only God will be able to judge us on.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to be the best version of ourselves and pleasing Him is definitely more important than pleasing the natural man.

The things that really matter to God are how we treat our neighbor, the smile we give to a stranger, the door that we open for an elderly person and the grace that we have given someone who maybe wasn’t that kind to us.

But most of all, I believe that the underlying desire to be a better version of ourselves today than we were yesterday is what matters most to God.

God knows the bigger picture, He loves us unconditionally and our relationship with Him is what really matters the most in this life.

My desire for today is to be the first 63 year old grandma to accomplish a task that will make someone else happy, to financially be in a better place today than I was yesterday and to know without a shadow of a doubt that God does love me personally and my happiness and peace of mind really does matter, not only to Him, but to those that I am the very closest to.

Just for today, I want God to know that my role as a grandmother is something I do have control over.

Grandmother’s who are wise remember to listen to their inner voice, they have wisdom and knowledge worth listening to and they know that love and respect are two completely different adjectives.

The word love to me is the most powerful word in the English language and the next most powerful word is respect.

Most people view it the other way around. In business, respect is the number one reason companies flourish, but when the CEO of a company feels love from the people that are the most important to them, their success will be stronger, not necessarily in the way the world looks at success, but definitely the way that our Father in Heaven and our Son Jesus Christ view us.

You can respect a lot of people and it’s a beautiful thing. However, when you love a person and also respect them, it’s about as close to heaven as you can get.

In the grand scheme of things, isn’t God actually our CEO and his son Jesus Christ the COO? When they work hand in hand, a lot of heavenly firsts are achieved that are never documented in this life, but are definitely recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon especially when they’re trying to help someone who may not truly understand the true divine purpose of being first with God and his son Jesus Christ.

When God and the Savior Jesus Christ work together, miracles happen everyday.

They are not always seen by the naked eye or the natural man, but they’re definitely documented in heaven in a place that really will be remembered by those who choose to follow God our eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ.