A story on the theme of Matthew 26.31-44

Topic: Enlarge Your Soul Through Grief and Loss 

Theme: God encourages us to embrace our human limitations by grieving well through the losses we face.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Katie was very, very sad. All she could think of was her grandma. Her grandma was her best friend, ever. She couldnʼt remember any time without her grandma from her earliest memories. Her grandma had always been there. But her grandma had not only always been there, her grandma had loved her in a very special way. She loved her mom and dad -- and her sisters and brother, and her grandpas, but she loved her grandma in a very special way, too.

Grandma taught her wonderful songs that just the two of them knew. She remembered that grandma had a special song she sang when Katie was going to sleep and she slept best of all when her grandma sang her to sleep.

Her grandma read to her her favorite books. Her grandma knew English and Spanish and could read in either language. Listening to her read, Katie began to learn Spanish.

Her grandma told her stories about when her grandma had been a little girl and her grandma had her own grandma. Katie asked for those stories again and again.

She taught Katie how to cook and they made their favorite cookies together and once they made tic-tac-toe sandwiches. (Youʼll have to ask Katie what those are.)

But she didnʼt have her grandma any more. Her grandma had gotten sick and had to go to the hospital and then came home, but she was very weak and couldnʼt get out of bed. Then her grandma died. Katie was just a little girl and she wasnʼt quite sure what that meant and what had happened. But she knew that she no longer had her grandma to tell her stories or go for walks or play with dolls or sing her to sleep.

She cried a lot after her grandma died and she kept turning around thinking that her grandma would be right there, but she wasnʼt any more. All she had left of her grandma was her memories. She was mad for a while from missing her grandma, although she didnʼt really know who she was mad at. She just wanted her grandma back.

But she finally stopped crying a lot and began remembering more and more of the wonderful times that she had had with her grandma. She sang the songs to herself that grandma taught her so she would remember them. She said the poems that theyʼd said together. Sometimes she asked her mom to help her bake cookies that sheʼd baked with her grandma. She imagined cuddling with her grandma and reading books.

It was hard not to have her special friend, grandma, but she knew her grandma had loved her so much that it made her feel very special and loved. And she knew thatʼs what her grandma would want her to remember.