As you read this, I am on a short trip to visit our newest grandchild. It’s hard to believe that over the past three years, our three sons have given us five grandchildren already. How time has flown! I asked them recently if they were going to slow down, or if we were going to have our own baseball team soon!
Growing up, I never really considered the idea of having grandchildren. In my younger years I could barely grasp the idea having a wife and my own children, let alone future generations after that. Yet, here they are, a part of our world forevermore.
I suppose a lot has changed in how grandparents relate to their grandchildren. As a military family constantly on the move, I didn’t get to see my grandparents but once every few years as we passed through on the way to our next station. But, today, my wife simply launches the video chat on her phone and has daily (and sometimes multiple times per day) conversations with the grandkids. Today, we can stay connected in ways that we never could before, can grow relationships in ways we were formerly unable to do, can have greater influence on future generations.
Proverbs 17:6 says, “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged…” (NRSV). Makes sense, doesn’t it? Grandparents love their grandchildren. They love their youthful enthusiasm. They love their naive curiosity. They love every bit of who they are. (And perhaps most of all, they love how they can send the kids home after a long day of wearing the grandparents’ energy down!). But here’s the piece we often forget. That Proverb has a conclusion, too – “…and the glory of children is their parents.” Parents look up to their parents, especially when grandchildren arrive, as a source of inspiration, information, and indeterminate hope.
Grandparents set an example, not only for their children, but also their grandchildren. As a new generation emerges, the possibility of passing on the gifts we have been given expands. From one child to more. From them a multitude of grandchildren, and then even great-grandchildren and beyond!
Each and every moment I get to spend with my grandchildren is a blessing; they are the ones who bless me. I wonder, how might you be blessed by these children and youth in your life today? Even those who do not yet have them for themselves may still find joy in the possibilities that are still yet to come.
Always pondering,
Pastor Steve
