Grandpa Sid

Cal’s grandfather, Sidney William Vandenacre went to be with the Lord on Sunday, February 12, 2012.  Cal and Kinsley went to Colorado the same day, and I went the following day.  There’s been a lot going on for us – still is – i just stopped now and wrote some of the thoughts that have been on my mind about Grandpa.

I didn’t actually get to spend a great deal of time with Grandpa Vandenacre. I do know he enjoyed Kinsley when we were there for Aaron’s wedding.  I’m not sure how to describe the happiness of a momma’s heart seeing her son bring joy to his relatives, to his own great-grandpa.  That joy is a treasure that I’ve been given two-fold, with my grandfather and with Grandpa Vandenacre.

I learned a lot about Grandpa from the pictures and power point made with the pictures. I told Grandma I wanted to come back and look at more pictures, hear more of their story.  Her comment was that Grandpa always had valued pictures.  I felt in that moment of remembering him that I got to participate in geselich* fellowship with Grandpa.  I fully expect to see Grandpa again, and it’s in moments like those that I feel what I know we have – “that mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won”.

Gentleness was one of the traits Grandpa’s pastor talked about.  I didn’t get to be around like the pastor did.  I did see gentleness though. I saw it in Sid Vandenacre’s grandson Cal, my husband, a trait that has brought incredible joy to our marriage.  Cal’s gentleness continually ministers to our friends.  I have had the opportunity to be around others of Grandpa’s children and grandchildren.  I have experienced gentleness in those relationships, Grandpa’s gentleness planted in them.  Planted, grown in the soil of relationship with the same Heavenly Father Grandpa loved and relied on.

I had never heard the hymn “Children of the Heavenly Father” before Cal asked me to play it one day.  He and I were singing that day early in our marriage.  Cal commented it was Grandpa’s favorite.   Somehow the hymn became one of my favorites too, but later.  When we had a son of our own we sang the hymn, surprised by the emotion we felt towards our new child.  I thought about Grandpa that day and realized I was getting a glimpse of why he loved the hymn so much.  We were overwhelmed with awe at the care entrusted to us, care that had been entrusted to Grandpa and then to Cal’s parents and now to us.  Care impossible without an ever-present all-powerful, tenderly loving Father of our own.

*geselich is an adjective in Dutch that describes the atmosphere that exists when you’re comfortable with people you love, with people who love you.

 

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