The Bible Is No Prop

From Arizona-

The most important object on my desk on the House floor is my grandmother's Bible. It was given to her when she was 11 by her mother, a few months before she lost her mother to the 1918 outbreak of Spanish Influenza.

In the pages between the Old and New Testament are handwritten records of my family's births, marriages and deaths. My grandmother recorded her own mother's death in those pages, and the ink is smeared from her tears as she wrote that devastating event.

In the years to follow, my grandmother Evelyn moved all over the country to stay with relatives in Kansas, New Jersey, Colorado, Ohio, and finally, California. Her Bible always stayed by her side. Her life was hard, but I will always remember her eternally hopeful and positive outlook on life. My visits with her as a kid are some of my most treasured memories -- I loved the stories from her life she shared with me.

Every day when I look at that Bible, I gain energy from the memory of her strength.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-farley/the-bible-is-no-prop_b_827624.html