More From Ricki Aiello

It’s been over a year since I wrote and submitted my devotion entitled “First and Last”. I loved looking back at the time my brother and I spent with my grandmother. Her inspiring example helped to guide us both into lives of faith.

My mother died at the age of 93, several months before the publication was released. Thankfully, I did have a chance to show her what I wrote about my grandmother. She was so pleased knowing that her mother would be memorialized in The Upper Room.

As I look back on my mom’s final days, I appreciate the lessons we all learned from Gram. She would have been pleased to know the final words her daughter spoke to me. On the last day I saw my mother alive, she said to me, “I love you.” Those words remain in my heart every time I think of my mom.  

I believe God speaks those same words, “I love you,” every day of our lives. Since my mother’s death, I make it a point to say them to my children and grandchildren whenever I see them. They are the most beautiful words—words we long to hear and ought to say. “I love you.”