Grandparents Day

Today is National Grandparents Day. Let me tell you a story. One day, Grandpa Henry sat in the park with another old man. Henry discovered that his seventy-five-year-old friend had just married a twenty-five-year-old woman. Grandpa Henry was amazed. "Your wife must be beautiful,” he said. "No, not really," replied the older man. Henry listened, saying, "Then she must be a great cook and housekeeper." "No, she is not much for that," said the man." Henry thought and asked, "Then why did you marry her?" The seventy-five-year-old Grandpa yawned and said, "Because she can drive at night."

“National Grandparents Day” originated with Marian McQuade and her husband, Joe. They were residents of Fayette County, West Virginia, and the parents of fifteen children, grandparents of forty, and great-grandparents of eight. In 1973, after a five-year campaign, Mrs. McQuade pushed legislation that Congress passed, proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. September was chosen to honor Grandparents because it symbolized the "autumn years" of life. President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation.

Most Grandparents have a special place in their hearts for their grandchildren. A preacher friend once said, “My grandkids are grand when they come and grand when they go!” Grandparents can identify with Proverbs 17:6 (NKJV), which reads:

Children’s children are the crown of old men,

And the glory of children is their father.

The Bible speaks a great deal about parental and grand-parental responsibilities. Let us consider a few ideas.

Parents (directly) and grandparents (indirectly) are responsible for teaching their children, not the government. According to the Bible, teaching the next generations is crucial for parents and grandparents and is a good beginning place for our discussion. Psalm 145:4 (NKJV) is an important passage and reads:

One generation shall praise Your works to another And shall declare Your mighty acts.

Each generation is to pass on the praise and knowledge of God to the next. The reason is in Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV), where the wise man tells us the starting place for knowledge is fearing/respecting God. It reads:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Ephesians 6:1-5 admonishes fathers to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 speaks of the parental responsibility of repeatedly instructing children about the LORD in all life’s situations.

Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV) instructs parents to, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” While this generally true statement includes the nurture and admonition of the LORD, it also expresses how parents should adapt their teaching to each of their children. Each child learns differently, and parents who know their children best adjust their methods. A child with athletic abilities needs a different approach to learning than a child with artistic acumen.

Titus 2:1-5 (NKJV) speaks to the older men and women (grandparents). Paul wrote:

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

I like the story of the grandmother trying to reinforce some basic instructions for her granddaughter.

Grandma Bessie was at home babysitting her grandchildren. Bessie wondered just how much her three-year-old granddaughter had learned. She picked up a box of Crayons and began a test to see if she had learned her colors yet. She would pull a Crayon out of the box and ask what color it was. Her granddaughter would tell her, and she was always right. Finally, the little girl slid out of the porch swing and headed for the door. Over her shoulder, the little girl said, "Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these yourself!"

Our grandchildren may not always understand what we are trying to accomplish, but we train them anyway.

Giving inheritance is a second opportunity for grandparents. Proverbs 13:22 (NKJV) reads:

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Leaving financial gifts to their children and grandchildren is nice, but there is a more significant inheritance. If we can unlock the presence of the LORD in their lives, we have given them more than silver and gold. If we have God, we have everything. If we do not have God, we have nothing, no matter the size of our bank accounts. Patrick Henry expressed this in his last will and testament. He divided his property among his heirs and spoke of what mattered the most. He wrote: