Pyapp and Granny
“…knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord…â€
(Ephesians 6:8)
Pyapp (pronounced rapidly: pee’-yap) and Granny were my grandfather and grandmother, respectively. Their real names were James and Apollonia. We knew them as Pyapp and Granny. When I was about four years old, Granny put coffee grinds and apple peelings in Pyapp’s empty carton of Half & Half cream. Then, we waited for him to come into the kitchen and add it to his coffee. It happened just as planned. Granny and I laughed our heads off when Pyapp got the garbage scraps instead of the cream. But, it didn’t end there. Pyapp would chase me—all the while pulling out his false teeth and making them chatter. Quite the mayhem for a four year old. I remember bringing my friends over to look at Pyapp. I’d say, “Do the teeth thing!†He’d do it, and we’d all scatter. Summers were often times for spraying Pyapp with the water hose. The chase was on. One thing is for sure, Pyapp and Granny invested in people, not things.
Are we taking time enough for people? No doubt about it, our days are filled with so many activities. We can’t do everything, but we can do something; and, what we can do, we should do; and what we should do, by the grace of God, we will do. Evaluate how your time is spent. Are you investing in people or in things? Relationships matter. Relationships should take precedence. Jesus told his disciples, “…I have called you friends…†(John 15:15).
Pyapp and Granny no longer sit under the breezes of the cottonwood tree. But, we remember what it was like when they invested their time, not in things, but in people. Ephesians 6:8 (quoted above) still applies. Let’s re-invest in the work.
-Robert M. Housby