I listened to a podcast recently about technology and kids, and the guest briefly mentioned she lived with her parents in a multigenerational home. While this was not the main point of the podcast, it got me thinking about what a blessing it is to provide daily care for my grandchild.
Our oldest was born when we were just 20 years old. Not only were we young and selfish, we were not Christians and had a very worldly view of children and family. My mother babysat on weekends and other times when she wasn't working so we could go do things we wanted to do. Selfish is the only word that comes to mind. I am honestly not sure if I even gave much thought to my mother's desires or the true benefit to my children of getting to spend time with their grandmother. I knew my kids were safe and I was free to pursue my own interests.
As I look back now, I am so grateful that my kids had as much time with my mom as they did, and that she loved them so much. I wish she would have lived longer so I could talk to her more about my foolishness back then and how thankful I am now for all that she did. Maybe this is just the nature of aging? The older I get, the more I realize how important time with family is. We love our grandbaby almost as much as her own parents do, so what a blessing to be able to pour into her life!
Two of my grandparents died before I was born. My father's father was an abusive alcoholic, and I remember meeting him once in a nursing home, where he told me you get freckles from wearing a straw hat in the sun. My mother's mother lived with us briefly when I was in my early teens before she went to a nursing home. She did not like me and made that clear. She once called me the "spawn of Satan" due to her hatred of my father, and I wrote more about that here.
God has been so faithful to us! Our faithful Father has taught us over the years to put aside our own selfish desires, cherish time with family, and make Christ central in our lives. He has enabled us to be able to pour our time into Maddie, even before she is old enough to know the blessing of the rich heritage of faith and love surrounding her (and future grandchildren).
Ever since we became Christians in 1998, my prayer has been that we might parent faithfully. I have prayed that we would see our children and our children’s children be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and that God might be pleased to see generation after generation of our family live to follow and serve Christ!
Each person in our family has different strengths, gifts, and levels of patience, each of which will be useful in the lives of all the grandchildren we may have. I believe God will use these multigenerational relationships to refine us, teach us humility, and make us less self-serving. Our grandkids will see a genuine faith modeled by different generations in everyday life, resembling a micro-version of the body of Christ.
Glory be to God!
Until Next Time~
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”
Psalm 145:4 (ESV)
Until Next Time~
Shari
No comments:
Post a Comment