A Good Kind Of Stubborn | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: A Good Kind Of Stubborn | Previous Challenge Entry
By Linda Lawrence
05/20/20
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I’m an old-fashioned grandma with old-fashioned tastes and old-fashioned values. Nevertheless, I was taken aback the first time I heard my grandsons using the word “modern” as a derogatory slang term. It was quite comical to see a cherubic curly-haired four-year-old wrinkle his forehead and discard a peashooter, disgustedly pronouncing it “modern” because it was made of plastic. Soon “modern” became our family’s particular tongue-in-cheek slang for anything considered undesirable because it was not old-fashioned.

The boys live in urban southern California, but their grandpa and I retired on the edge of a small Oregon town, a covered bridge and creek within walking distance. The boys grew up on Little House on the Prairie—the books and reruns on television. The annual summer vacation at Grandma and Grandpa’s house gave them an opportunity to explore a creek, build dams, and float hand-made boats. The boys were thrilled with old toolboxes, stained canvas tarps, Lincoln logs, and cornbread made in a cast iron skillet. I provided an old trunk under the stairs for each of them; a place to store their treasures until their next visit. Their grandpa and I were so pleased when ropes and vintage tin cups were at the top of their Christmas wish lists. Such simple pleasures.

Charles Ingalls was their model. Long hair, western slouch hat, suspenders, boots. Their parent’s retro taste in clothing and vintage decor fed into the playful mentality that old was good and “modern” was bad.

My sweetest memory of those innocent days was when Levi was seven and announced he wanted to be baptized—by his grandpa . . . in a horse water trough . . . and wearing overalls. He clearly had his own specific old-fashioned vision. Fortunately, we had gracious friends with a small farm and a long clean watering trough for their 4-H sheep, willing to make them available for his envisioned baptism.

Grandpa wanted to be sure Levi understood getting baptized in a water trough wasn’t just an old-fashioned game, but a lifetime commitment that extended into the “modern” age.

Grandpa was serious as he asked, “Why do you want to be baptized?”

“It’s one of the parts of obeying God,” Levi said. “It’s an extra and important part. It’s telling God that I believe in Him. And it’s telling people that I believe in Him. I feel like it’s telling God that if I didn’t know about Him I’d be lost. I think everyone who believes in Jesus should get baptized because it’s not like it costs a million bucks.”

Hiding a grin, Levi’s dad asked him, “But why do you want Grandpa to be the one to baptize you?”

“He’s special to me. I won’t be scared because Grandpa is doing it. I trust him . . . because he’s my grandpa and when he does something, he does something! He wouldn’t do something if it wasn’t true.”

Levi was quiet, thoughtful, for a moment. “Grandpa’s godly . . . nice . . . generous . . . a stubborn man.” He quickly added, “A good kind of stubborn. Like if he believes in something he’s going to really believe in it.”

As we gathered in front of the barn and watched Grandpa baptize Levi, I sensed this was a timeless moment, neither old-fashioned nor modern. But an action that was filled with eternal value.

It was a wistful summer for me as I saw the boys first fall in love with duct tape, then move on to Legos, skateboards, and light sabers--discovering more and more modern inventions that captured and transformed their idea of simple pleasures.

Grandpa has gone on to enjoy his “eternal” life. And this old-fashioned grandma? Well, “modern“ is still slang to me.

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