Conversation with Granny

"Granny," I asked with a look that only childhood girl curiosity could make. "Granny," I had to repeat myself to get her attention.

Granny had been enthroned on the couch, knitting or fussing with some domestic sewing project. Her eyes came alive whenever I asked her questions.

"Granny," her eye contact had made me feel more secure. "How do I become a Christian?" It had been something on my mind. 

"How do you think?" Granny had replied crisply.

"I think I will have to make myself better." It was all I could think of as a seven-year old.

"And what will happen when you make yourself better?" Granny wanted to know.

"I'll be better than I am now."

"What good is that?" Granny had wanted to know.

"Jesus loves good people."

"You're heading in the wrong direction," Granny had told me. "You should try to make yourself worse as a person."

I had frowned.

"I don't mean you should do bad things. But you should make yourself bad in your own eyes. Because that is what you are sometimes."

Then she paused and said the words I will never forget. "It's good if you see yourself as bad because then Jesus sees that you want to be good. And then He makes you good. That's how you become a Christian."