{"id":24463,"date":"2020-02-25T03:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T08:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/?p=24463"},"modified":"2020-02-06T10:51:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T15:51:11","slug":"4-ways-grandchildren-are-a-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/4-ways-grandchildren-are-a-blessing\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways Grandchildren Are a Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Some of my friends were downright embarrassing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the arrival of the first\ngrandchild, normal, rational, level-headed adults turned into absolute fools.\nThey traded in their given names (many with postgraduate degree initials behind\nthem) for monikers like GaGa and PopPop. I loved my daughters, and I assumed\nI\u2019d also love my grandchildren, but I knew a seven-pound infant would never\ntransform me into a besotted, Instagram-stalking grandma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24466\" width=\"380\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren1.jpg 350w, https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren1-135x101.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Author Lois Wyse once said, \u201cIf I had\nknown how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I\u2019d have had them\nfirst.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that I have four grandchildren of\nmy own, I get it. As I bask in the glory of grandparenting, I\u2019ve discovered\nfour ways grandchildren are a blessing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Grandchildren\ngive us permission to be silly. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A cheerful heart is good medicine,\u201d Proverbs 17:22 says, \u201cbut a crushed spirit dries up the bones.\u201d There\u2019s nothing more fun than a silly grandchild. Laughter bursts out at the slightest provocation, and we\u2019ll do anything to hear that musical jingle. From baby peek-a-boo to horsey rides to bedtime stories complete with a different voice for every character, the silliness keeps coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Grandchildren\nprovide an opportunity to share our faith. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul speaks of the sweetness of\nmulti-generational faith when speaking of Timothy: \u201cI am reminded of your\nsincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother\nEunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also\u201d (2 Timothy 1:5). There is no\ngreater joy than to share our faith with our grands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time gives us a perspective we\ndidn\u2019t have twenty or thirty years ago. Maybe, out of fear, we pushed too hard.\nOr weren\u2019t a good faith example. Grandchildren give us a do-over, a second\nchance to impact another generation for Christ. It is my deepest hope to have a\npart in seeing my grandchildren come to faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Grandchildren\ngive us a chance to invest in the future.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24468\" width=\"388\" height=\"258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren3.jpg 350w, https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren3-135x90.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Proverbs 13:22 reminds us, \u201cA good\nperson leaves an inheritance for their children&#8217;s children.\u201d I want to invest\nin my grandchildren\u2019s education, their interests, and their spiritual growth. I\ndon\u2019t want to thoughtlessly fund just any activity, but I want to help pay for\nactivities that will help them discover the gifts and talents God has given\nthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to help send them to a Christian camp and on summer mission trips. I want to buy biographies of great men and women of God to show them who the real heroes and heroines are. I want to teach them to give and serve sacrificially as they watch my example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Grandchildren\nteach us about God.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If parenthood gave me the ability to\nglimpse the Father heart of God, grandparenthood has displayed it on the big\nscreen. I realize the love I have for my grands reflects God\u2019s love for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be able to answer my grandchildren\u2019s\nquestions, I must be full of wisdom, which comes from digging into God\u2019s Word\nand praying often. I claim James 1:5, \u201cIf any of you lacks wisdom, he should\nask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be\ngiven to him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when my little ones sin against me\nor each other, my heart breaks, just as God\u2019s does when I sin against him. This\nregular reminder of how often I fail him and how freely he forgives me keeps me\nhumble. My hope is that my grandchildren and I will continue to learn about God\ntogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24467\" width=\"382\" height=\"253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren2.jpg 350w, https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren2-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/grandchildren2-135x89.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the eve of our first granddaughter\u2019s\narrival, our family held a meeting to decide my grandma name. \u201cMy only request\nis that you pick something she won\u2019t be embarrassed to call me when she\u2019s\nfifteen,\u201d I said. We tossed around a few suggestions and settled on the name\nI\u2019ve come to treasure: Gigi. Now I wear it proudly as I scroll through my\nInstagram feed for pictures to show my friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m confident you can add a few blessings\nof your own. Leave a comment below, and join the conversation. And if you\u2019re\nbrave enough, leave your grandparent name. But please, no pictures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of my friends were downright embarrassing. With the arrival of the first grandchild, normal, rational, level-headed adults turned into absolute fools. They traded in their given names (many with postgraduate degree initials behind them)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":24465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1551],"tags":[4130,2006,244,3525,67,1026],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>4 Ways Grandchildren Are a Blessing - Inspire A Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/inspireafire.com\/4-ways-grandchildren-are-a-blessing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Ways Grandchildren Are a Blessing - Inspire A Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some of my friends were downright embarrassing. 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