How much have you benefitted from the life and legacy of your grandparents?
Many of us have been the recipients of a wealth of wisdom, guidance, and love from our grandparents. Some have even benefitted from resources provided from them through inheritances left for them by grandparents who cared.
The challenge for every grandparent today is to make sure that their grandchildren will never be able to say, "I never knew my grandparents."
How much they know about your life, beliefs, hopes and dreams may shape their futures.
In 1996 Erma Bombeck, an American humorist wrote about the images that many grandparents have left for their grandchildren to remember. Bombeck said:
Grandparents can always be counted upon to buy anything you're selling from all-purpose greeting cards to peanut brittle, from flower seeds to cookies, from transparent tape to ten chances on a pony.
A grandparent buys you gifts your mother says you don't need.
A grandparent pretends he does not know who you are on Halloween.
A grandparent will put a sweater on you when she is cold, feed you when she is hungry and put you to bed when she is tired.
A grandparent is the only baby-sitter your parents didn't have to pay.
A grandparent will believe you can read even when you have the book upside down.
These are the images that many have of their grandparents, but there is so much more to be told and so much more to be learned. The character of grandchildren often depends on what grandparents put in their hearts today. The challenge to pass from one generation to the next the legacy of God, family and country represents the sum total of every grandparent's charge which is to leave an inspiring legacy that will live in the hearts of your grandchildren.
Grandparents should not consider their work done until they are satisfied that their grandchildren are on the right track or at least know their way to the right track. Until that happens there is still much work to be done.
As Christians, our goal is to possess every blessing that God has for us. We give God praise for Godly grandparents because they show us the way and help us to claim our legacy. As each new grandchild is born, grandparents know they do not have the leisure of a rocking chair existence. There is much land to possess.