Wisdom of Sadie
My grandmother's name is Sadie. She was born in the old South in 1887. I could write a book about her ... but for this post, I will share one of her moments of wisdom.
She was a devout Roman Catholic, living by all the rules, and keeping all the Holy Days, never missing Mass ... and I am sure her Confessions to the Priest were about minor failings - otherwise she likely told the Priest how good she was ... just kidding.
Anyway, I was about 15 years old at the time ... and she was about 80 years ol ... and you could say that she was a contemporary of CT Russell ... the righteous generation. I asked her how we can know if we are pleasing God and avoiding the Devil ... because I wanted to go to heaven, or at least not go to hell.
She said, "Well, Sunny-Child, let me tell you a short story, and maybe you will understand." I readily agreed.
"One day in the middle of a freezing cold winter, a man was running from a gang of theives and murderers who were going to kill him. He barely stayed ahead of them, and knew that once he got to the other side of the river he would be safe. When he came upon the river, he noticed it was very wide and frozen over, so he worried that there were weak spots in the ice that could kill him if he fell through. So, he decided to pray ...'God, I tell you that I have faith in you ... please help me safely across this river' ... he then stepped carefully on the ice and it held ... he walked a little ways and then looked down and said, 'Devil, you arn't as bad as they have you painted ... will you help me across the river?' He then proceeded to walk more, but was ever so careful.
"He repeated this process as he continued to cross ever so carefully ... thanking God and giving nice words to the Devil ... finally, he was about 90% of the way across the river and stopped. He looked behind and could not see any bad guys following ... he knew that in a short distance he would be safe for good. So, he made one last prayer to God, 'Oh Lord, thank you for helping me this far ... please help me the rest of the way and I will always be thankful ... he then looked down, and once again told the Devil that he wasn't so bad as people thought, and with a little more help from the Devil, he would be safe and would be eternally grateful.
"At last, he touched the shore line and was safe on the other side of the river. He saw the bad guys back on the other side, but they were afraid to cross on their horses, so they turned around and went back home. He was finally safe ... so ... he looked back up to God, and then once again down to the Devil and said, 'To hell with you both."
Wow Grama! I am confused. What is the moral of that story? "Well, Sunny-Child, once the man got through using God and the Devil and found safety, he could ditch them both. So, some people believe that when we get through this life we finally learn that we can stand on our own two feet and don't need to worry anout God or the Devil."
Then, what do you believe Grama? "Sunny-Child, I think you already know."
I have never forgotten this story from my devout Catholic Grandma ... from this women who was a child of the 19th century ... someone who was born in the Victorian era and lived righteously by today's standards ... I often wonder about the Wisdom of Sadie.