by Michelle S. Lazurek
“Get your coat. We’re going to the store.”
My Nana lived next door to me, and I spent many weekends with her. On Saturdays, one of our favorite activities was to go to the local department store. As my Nana, with her four- foot- eleven- inch frame, pushed her shopping cart up and down the aisles, purchasing items off her shopping list, I perused the toy aisle. I'd run my hand across each row of toys that stared back at me. My Little Ponies, Pound Puppies, and Care Bears taunted me in their beautifully decorated cardboard boxes. Just as my eyes would be bigger than my stomach when I didn’t portion my dinner, my eyes sometimes desired toys that were too big for my allowance. I only received three dollars a week from my parents. In any other circumstance, that felt like riches, but in this circumstance, I didn't have any money to buy those coveted toys.
Although I loved many toys that came out in the 80s, my favorite was She-Ra, He Man’s strong sister. I owned everything Mattel put out when it came to She-Ra. A few months prior, I bought my first She-Ra sticker book. The book had blank spaces that allowed kids to put the accompanying pack of stickers in each space. Each packet contained a pre-determined number of stickers with its number on the back. The number of each sticker corresponded to the slot on the picture book. Just ten stickers shy of completing my book, I badly wanted another sticker pack. But when I asked my mom, Mom said no.
Growing up, I came from a home where everything was earned. Despite many kids today who ask their parents for something from the grocery store, and it’s placed in the shopping cart, I had to do extra chores or get good grades to get anything I wanted. Rarely did my mother allow me to make any impulse buy, no matter how inexpensive the sticker packet might be. After hearing No from my mother many times, I quickly learned that getting a toy or other luxury item simply for being a kid was not something my family initiated. My mother believed in teaching her children about the value of a dollar. Therefore, an impulse buy like stickers wasn't in my cards.
However, on that faithful day when Nana and I went to the department store, something incredible happened. After Nana had finished shopping, she waited in line. She began placing her items on the counter when she reached the front of the line. When she was done, I put the cart back in its corral. When I returned, Nana said, “Grab one of those sticker packets for your sticker book.”
I stopped cold in my tracks. I couldn't believe it! The coveted stickers that I had thought about for months were in my hands, and I didn’t have to part with my money to get them! Nana had heard me ramble on about that sticker book for many weekends in her home. I sat on her lap and turned each page, proudly displaying each sticker, clattering on about each cartoon’s episodes corresponding to the stickers. I must have bored Nana with my prattling, but she knew how much I loved that sticker book and wanted those stickers. She also knew my mother's strict stance against allowing her children to indulge in impulse buys.
But that day, through her generosity, she allowed her granddaughter to learn an important lesson about grace. Nana bought those stickers for me.
I didn’t earn them.
I didn't have any money to pay her back.
But Nana bought them for me, just because.
I insisted I’d pay her out of my allowance the following week, but Nana refused.
And that day, I learned a little lesson about God's grace, and ultimately, faith.
Grace was an unfamiliar concept in my home. Good behavior was rewarded; lousy behavior was punished. Forgiveness was rarely offered because no one asked for it.
As I think about Nana, I'm reminded of this foundational concept of my faith today. My faith started when I was young and culminated in a decision to follow the Lord later in life. If it were not for my grandmother's example of her devout Catholic faith to me as a child, I wouldn't be where I am today.
I knew God could be trusted because I saw my Nana’s example of generosity. Because of Nana, I went to church with her every week. Nana lived out what she believed. She went to confession regularly, volunteered her time and services (even into her 80s,) and taught me about the steadfast grace of Jesus. I credit my Nana with my unwavering faith and commitment to take my Christian faith seriously at eighteen and into adulthood. Without Nana’s example, I wouldn't have taken faith so seriously as an adult.
Hebrews 11 talks about people who, when they demonstrated small and large acts of faith, changed the world for the better. God was glorified, and both their and others’ faith was strengthened because they knew God could be trusted. And I learned about trusting God because of my Nana.
On an ordinary Saturday in 1987, in the middle of an Ames department store, I learned about the grace of God. That day, I received a gift I hadn't earned but desperately needed, given by my Nana, who gave it simply out of her abundant love for her granddaughter.
And my faith was established because of her simple act of generosity.
Michelle S. Lazurek is a pastor’s wife and mother as well as a multi-genre, award-winning author and speaker. She is a regular contributor for ibelieve.com and crosswalk.com, a movie reviewer for Movieguide Magazine, and is passionate about making disciples and engaging in honest conversations for authentic living. She’s also a literary agent for Wordwise Media Services. When not working, she enjoys sipping a latte, collecting 80s memorabilia and records, and spending time with her family (including her crazy dog).
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