1 Kings 12:20-13:34 / Acts 9:26-43 / Psalm 132 / Proverbs 17:6
Today, I want to talk to the grandparents. I’ve said this many times since Heritage was born in November 2018 – people who talked about how amazing it is to be grandparents WAY undersold the amazing, beautiful gift grandchildren are! Heritage and Oliver are lights in my life in such an incredible way. Yes, I adore my three children, but there is something so different about the joys of being a grandparent.
What has me thinking about this – apart from the obvious admiration and love I hold for my “little people”? Proverbs 17:6 Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged, parents are the pride of their children. I will talk about both aspects in this post because our family has been blessed coming and going with the relationships we’ve worked so hard to build!
Sadly, not everyone is blessed to have a good relationship with their grandchildren, children, or parents. If you have difficultly in any of these relationships, I’m so very sorry. I’ve experienced my own difficulties, but I have worked hard to be sure my generation and the ones after me will have a different story.
That doesn’t mean tough stuff doesn’t happen. Hard times hit us all! Health challenges, poor decisions, abuse, neglect and a thousand other things are always working against families and their desires to have good community.
That’s why we must determine to work through the relationship issues as best as we’re able. Some things are out of our control, some things are not. I can forgive. I can be kind. I can treat someone other than the way they have treated me. This is not an easy choice, but I believe it’s a necessary one if we want to live a peace-filled, free life.
What about parents being the pride of their children? If you have great parents – notice I didn’t say perfect – you are blessed! No parent is perfect because they are working through their own past hurts and pain. And to the degree they work through the past is the degree they will relate well to you. Guess what that means?
To the degree YOU work through your past hurts and pain is the degree to which you can enjoy the relationship you have with your children. We are permitted to pass down blessings to our children and grandchildren instead of curses. But it takes someone being willing to stand up and say, “No more!”
Again, that’s not easy, but it’s necessary! Someone must choose to be a sentinel for their generation and family. What do I mean by that? A sentinel is a soldier standing guard at a point of passage, such as a gate. Do you see? We have a choice to either stand guard, not allowing things of the past to move forward in our lives, or to allow all kinds of destruction to get past us.
I am not allowing evil and destruction to get past me – at least as far as I’m aware. I can’t know everything, but I can be alert, listening to Holy Spirit and guarding what is passed from me to those I love.
So, before you get old – do your work! Clear your soul. Clean out your heart. I promise you do not want to be a crabby old man or woman and all because you refused to forgive and let go of stuff in the past. It’s your choice – crabby old person – or old person that everyone loves to see coming.
Even if you’re young, please listen to what I’m saying – take care of the business of your heart TODAY. You will thank me when you’re old. Well, I’ll be in Heaven jumping clouds, but you’ll still think fondly of my words and be glad you listened!