Grandma's Motto

Hello Everyone and Welcome!

I don’t know about you, but it took me months to come up with the right title for my blog. I had so many ideas flooding through my mind that it was hard to pin down one that I was happy with. I knew that I did not want a mundane title like “My Blog,” or a long title like “Ponderings of a 30 year old Married Woman.” I wanted something simple and meaningful. As you will come to find out, I love all things French. So a French title was definitely on my list of ideas. Finally, I came up with C’est La Vie. For me, this phrase carries a lot of substance, and it is a perfect title that encompasses all the things I want to blog about.

C’est La Vie is a French phrase meaning “That is Life” or “Such is Life.” Usually, it is used when a difficulty arises, or when something happens that is out of our control. We might say, “That is Life,” that’s what happens in life, and we move on. As I was growing up, I remember hearing my French Canadian grandmother use this phrase every so often when she was talking about a difficult situation that she or someone else was going through. She’d smile and say, “C’est La Vie!” I didn’t know until I grew older exactly what this phrase meant or what Grandma meant by it. The phrase stuck with me, and I began to realize that it is an admirable viewpoint.

 Grandma and Me

I have gone through lots of difficulties and stressful situations in my life, and I have to say it’s hard to just smile and say, “C’est La Vie!” I’m a person who tends to worry and get emotionally charged about a difficult situation. However, sometimes just letting things go to work out on their own is the best thing to do. Why make things worse by constantly worrying, not getting sleep at night, and not eating, when there is Someone I know who is the Blessed Controller of all things, the Giver of Life, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

He is “the Life.” He is the One who gives me love and strength to make it through the difficulties I face, and He is the one who cares about and works out every detail of my life with my best interests in mind.  So whenever I am going through a hard time, I can not only think of Grandma saying “C’est La Vie,”  but I can also think of my Savior who went through the greatest difficulty of all by giving His life for me so that I can have abundant, spiritual life. Maybe instead of saying, “C’est La Vie,” I can instead say, “Jesus est la Vie,” meaning “Jesus is Life.” 

My hope is that you can come to a place in your life where you can smile and say “C’est La Vie,” and my prayer is that you can also come to a place where you can say “Jesus est la Vie,” “Jesus Is Life.”