"Heart-shaped and Personalized"

Grandmommy Lazenby wore a charm bracelet.  It was very simple, probably no more than 10K gold, and only had a few charms dangling from it.  The names and birth dates of her two children (Mom and my Uncle Bob) and of her grandchildren (Eric, Anna, Steve, Sheryl, Sandy and Susan) were engraved on them ... one for each of us.  Although Mom didn't care for the jingle of her mother's bracelet, all of us grandchildren remember it with a bit of fondness. When we would worshiped with Grandmommy at “her” church, we listened for that jingle and could find her with ease among those in the pews. When she hugged someone, she would throw her arms wide and the charm bracelet would "sing" with a jingly sort of joy.  We heard that joy when she would hug each of us.

When visiting with Grandmommy Lazenby in her home, I loved to sit on the sofa next to her, cuddling up against her. At times, I would gently touch her charms … mine, especially.  There is a bit of wear on each one.  To this day, I like to imagine that the wear is because Grandmommy held each of our charms as she thought about us and prayed for us individually.  Although I never saw her fingering the charms in prayer, over the years this has turned into a personal certainty for me.  I so strongly desired those thoughts, prayers and unconditional love from my grandmother that surely it was true.  No one can convince me otherwise.  Recently, Mom gave me the charm with my name engraved on it.  What will I do with it?  Do I put it away or wear it as a pendant on a necklace? I'm not much for monograms or things bearing my name, you know.

Early this morning, I was reading the lectionary scriptures and found myself with this charm in my hand as I read.  The gospel lectionary scriptures for this Sunday are John 3:1-17.  Just when I thought that there was no other direction one can take with these oh-so-familiar words, no other ponderings, no other ways of saying the same thing, I opened my hand and saw the heart-shaped charm with “Anna” engraved on its face.  “For God so loves you, Anna.”   Yes, John 3:16 is heart-shaped and personalized just like the charm I held in my hand.