The Next Generation

Grandkids

It is my granddaughters christening this weekend. Aren’t grandkids fun, or are they just fun?? Their excited little faces when Grandma and/or Grandad arrives is wonderful. They know that they know they are about to get spoiled rotten. First time my grandson slept over, our door opened about 05:50 – an hour that usually doesn’t exist in my diary. There was the patter of little feet coming round the bed, so I kept my eyes closed. Suddenly, a small hand opened one of my eyes and I saw a shining hopeful little face before me. Before I could move, a little voice announced, “It’s morning Grandad.” We sent him off to the kitchen to find the cookies we had left conveniently placed for him to find and he returned grasping three of them. He then promptly burrowed up our bed from the bottom and parked between us distributing crumbs adroitly all over the bed. That’s the way to start your day !!

Actually, Grandkids are simply representatives of the next generation and the privilege of just having them at all is immense. The blessings of grand children cannot be emphasized enough but the responsibilities that go with them is quite honestly numbing in its greatness. Here we are, Christian parents and now grandparents, and we will be held responsible for the way we raised or helped raise them. OUCH – that could be embarrassing.

Then, I  wondered why they are called “grand” children. Well that term dates from around the 12^th Century and comes from the French “grand” meaning big – as in big people, grownups and so on. So the term “Grandparent” took on the meaning of being the older generation – your parents parents – exactly as we understand the term today.

Now, to my mind, this is where “grandparents” takes on a new meaning with new responsibility to go with it. The way I see it, parents have a huge responsibility, but grandparents have responsibility for the parents – which is an even greater responsibility. Grandparents become the ‘wise’ heads who will arbitrate and mediate – generally on the side of parents but occasionally on the side of the younger generation. In this way, they gain the reputation of being (almost) impartial and wise in all their decisions.

So what about when it comes to teaching the little ones about God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit? Here is where the ‘special relationship’ of being a grandparent comes into play. We will never have a better or more attentive audience that our grandkids. Young children accept everything their grandparents tell them – because they do !! The faith of young children in action has to be seen to be believed – no wonder Jesus said that we all need faith ‘like that of a child’. He knew what He was talking about didn’t He?

Grandmas and Grandads always have time, always have the patience to explain over and over to children – until they ‘get it’ and accept it for themselves. There is no age limit on God’s Kingdom. We are never too old nor too young. I have seen children as young as three lost in praise and worship, dancing and singing and waving their flags and banners.

That is all part of our responsibility to our grandkids. That is part of their expectation of us – even if they don’t realise it until they become grandparents for themselves.