By Gene Monin
What is the greatest force moving grandparents to other cities? Grandchildren cause more seniors to move than any other reason.
The gift of old age is grandchildren. Grandchildren make old age worth while.
A friend was talking of how happy she now she has great grandchildren. Her face was alive with the joy of telling me this.
It struck me that she had to wait till she was old to get that happiness, and even then, age does not always bring grandchildren.
Only the toughest get the gift of grandchildren. They had the struggles of raising children and reap the benefits much later.
If you are patient enough to wait, you hope you live long enough to see your grandchildren and great grandchildren.
The blessings flow both ways. The proverb says “Grandparents are proud of their grandchildren, and children should be proud of their parents”.
Many old people miss the gift of grandchildren. They never had children or their children did not bear children.
The cruelest cut of all is when people bar their children from visiting grandparents.
Grandchildren represent hope for the future even if the future appears dark. We live on hopes.
In the horrors of the New Orleans Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, where the homeless were crowded in, babies were born in the midst of filth, murder and hunger.
Life goes on regardless, like the green seedlings sprouting a few weeks after a wildfire.
The elderly find a ‘crown’ of reward and honour in being surrounded by grandchildren.
“Grandchildren are beautiful jewels that grandparents wear like strings of pearls, more valuable than the Queen’s crown” (Chris Brauns).
I remember the dying grandmother who hung on to life by a thread until the last grandchild arrived, then died with a smile on her face.
Life matters only if it continues on through the generations.
Parents not only raised up godly sons and daughters, but raised them to raise up the same kind of children. They are our hope for the future.
Grandparents today have a huge role in the lives of their grandchildren.
In past ages, grandparents did not have the health, mobility, opportunity and resources they have today to spend time and take their grandchildren everywhere.
In many cases they are forced to step in to raise their grandchildren when parents are unable to care for them.
When they are used as babysitters, they have the opportunity to instill values into their charges that perhaps their parents do not have.
They take them to church when parents do not attend worship. They may be the only source of values and morals when schools and parents no longer provide this.
They teach them love and how to share and often they are the only bright light in some unfortunate child’s life.
You may leave a pile of debts, regrets, and sorrows, but when you leave grandchildren you have done your part in the great cycle of life.
Blessed are you when you see your children’s children. All the losses and pains of old age are worth it.
Gene Monin is a pastor and spiritual writer. Reach him at adios43@yahoo.com or 705 253 2608.
This article was originally published 1/24/16 on www.saultstar.com http://www.saultstar.com/2016/01/24/you-have-to-be-old-to-get-this-monin