“Grandma’s Tasks”
My grandmother, Ninnie McElroy Bryson, was a remarkable woman. She gave birth to twelve children, eleven living well into their adulthood. Hard work was no stranger to her. She knew all about planting, growing, weeding, gathering, canning, drying, preserving, rendering, soap making, dressing fresh meat, wringer washing, sewing, quilting, mending, baking (a dab of this/a dash of that/a pinch of the other), meal preparation, churning, firing the cook stove, tending to the young ones, fixing potions and poultices, dosing with castor oil (Did you ever take a dose of “groundhog oil” for the “crud”?), sweating out the fever, snuff dipping, tending to the grandchildren, telling mountain/Irish stories, and on and on I could go. In addition to all of the work related stuff, she was a wonderful philosopher.
She did not have the opportunity to get much of a formal education, having to drop out of school in the fourth grade in order to help her mother take care of the four younger siblings. However, my grandmother was a keen observer of life and was able to articulate her observations in simple, but yet very profound ways.
During the days of my “raisin’” I spent lots of time around my grandmother. I have many very fond memories of her. One late summer afternoon, when I was about 13, I was sitting on the front porch helping her prepare some freshly harvested vegetables for canning/freezing she told me something that I treasure to this day. In fact, I am still amazed at the insight and wisdom her statement contained, and still contains even today. Grandma said, “You know, son, there are really only four tasks that make up one’s life’s work. There is the gathering you have to do. You have to gather up the eggs. You have to gather the vegetables from the plants you planted already. Throughout life there are many things one has to gather. However (Pay close attention now!), the most important thing you will ever have to gather up is yourself. You’ll need to spend some time every day gathering yourself up.” She went on to say, “Another thing you have to do all of the time is the sorting. What do you keep? What is so rotten you need to throw it away? Sorting is important. It has to be done, or else you will end up keeping stuff that ought to be thrown out and throwing out stuff you ought to keep.” She, then, said “There are two more things you spend most of your time doing. You are going to be measuring and being measured. When you come across folks you will be measuring them up. What kind of folks are they? Do you want/need to get to know them better? How are you going to relate to them; and them to you? Are they going to be important to you? Or, can you get along without them?” She continued by saying, “And, you will be getting measured by others as well. You have to figure out how you want them to measure you. How do you want to be measured by others?”
Gathering, sorting, measuring, and being measured- A pretty simple statement about the basic tasks of life; at least, from Grandma’s of thinking. Yet, in the simplicity there is to be found that which is very profound. So, how are you doing? Are you gathering up some stuff that is really worthwhile? Have you spent some time gathering up you? How goes the sorting? Are you able to get rid of those things you need to get rid of? Are you keeping the good stuff? How do you know the difference? What are the criteria you use to measure others? Are you willing to let others use the same criteria to measure you?
I will leave it up to you to ponder the significance of these tasks in your life. They matter to me.