On March 21 were were awoken about 3:30 in the morning with a phone call. On the other end was the husky voice of our son Brad…announcing the safe arrival of Anika Mae. She arrived with little fan fare over in the small country of Denmark Europe. That’s right…way over across the ocean miles and miles away. After to few hazy, sleepy comments, we hung up and laid back in bad. Sleep was distant as I stared at the dark room. “Thank-you Lord, for another gift of life, a tiny precious baby girl.”
As I communed with God, I also had a private conversation with little Anika Mae…“You have been born into a Christian family, the fruit of your parents’ love for each other. They want the very best for you and so do I. They will teach you about Jesus and will cover you in prayer every day. You are a precious little lamb and I pray that Jesus, our tender Shepherd will bless you and at an early age you can trust Him for salvation.”
Being a grandparent is a breath-taking experience! Dangled before us is the beauty and wonder of a new life. Grandchildren help me see myself in perspective as I look through my trifocals and gaze in the rearview mirror of life. It seems it was just yesterday we held our Bradley Jon in our arms with tears of joy streaming down our faces. God had put into our arms a new little baby with a soul to train and rear to responsible manhood. Today, he is a proud new daddy in a foreign land.
“We will not conceal them from our children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.” Psalm 78:4-7“One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.”
Psalm 145:4
This is a tremendous calling! Every generation of Christians is to see to it that the next generation following them hears about the mighty acts of God. When believers truly live in wonder, in awe and in love for God’s work, they will praise those things to the next generation. What did Peter and John answer when they were commanded not to speak in Jesus’ name? They said this: “For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20 When you and I stand in the wonder of God’s marvelous acts of grace, it is inevitable that we praise His works to the next generation.
God intends that the older generation teach the newer generation to trust, obey, rejoice, love, and praise God. We are to do this, not in the passing on of meaningless dead traditions and rituals, but passionately and lovingly communicating the knowledge of the truth. As a mother of three and now grandmother of seven, these verses we are looking at today, have great impact! There is so much more about being a mother and grandmother than baking cookies, playing games and washing clothes. We need to be up and about, actively communicating God’s truths!
Even though I was told how wonderful it was being a grandma, I was not prepared for the flood of emotions as I held each new grandbaby in my arms. It fills me with love and joy and yet a burning responsibility to be a grandma that is a positive influence in each of their lives. I have a great deal to give and pass on, but often find myself at a loss of how to give it. Since I first embraced this role with Jared’s birth 14 years ago, I was determined to be a strong spiritual influence and yet felt so ill-equipped for the job!
These verses that we are looking at today have been a wonderful encouragement to cling to! This is God’s plan to pass on the Good News…from one generation to the next! Successful grandmothering takes time and effort with commitment to love. It means praying and being available, making sure each grandchild knows they are valued as a gift from God. Communicating God’s truths is more than reading the Bible to them; it is living it out on a daily basis, letting them see Jesus as Lord of our life.
Grandmothers need to be cautious about being the chief authority in their lives, for that is the job of their parents. We are the encouragers and the prayer warriors standing in the gap! It is our responsibility to recognize who the parents are and respect the boundaries they set. The parental authority needs to be honored, and our grandchildren must know that we honor and esteem their parents.
I was blessed with both grandmothers who loved the Lord. Through them I saw a God who cared for people, a God to whom each person was valued and I saw a God who could be trusted for living and while facing death. Sharing God with our grandchildren should be a positive, joyous experience! It is so much healthier to teach obedience to God out of love, rather than a harsh judgmental fear of retribution. We need to teach and model a God-centered, God-awed, Bible-saturated world-view to the next generation!
