Raising the Next Generation

Why It's Cool to Be a Grandma

This past Thursday, I became a grandma for the first time!  I am so proud of my son and daughter-in-law, too.  Jackson was born weighing just under 5 pounds, and he's so cute!  

Jackson Parker

As my husband and I made the four hour drive to the panhandle of Nebraska (Yes! There is a panhandle!), I began thinking that I'm too young to be a grandma!  Our son is 22 years old, so of course I'm not really too young.  But I couldn't help thinking that grandmas are the older, gray haired women who love to rock babies in the church nurseries...right?  Obviously, that is wrong thinking.  God made our generations to be carried on and on and on.  We are called to instruct and guide the youth of this world to a relationship with Jesus having passed down that understanding from parent to child and eventually to the child's own children and so on.

Consider this:  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says that we are to talk with our children when we sit at home, walk along the road, lie down and get up.  Keep them bathed in the Word daily and post them in our homes.  Psalm 22:30 says, "Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told of the Lord" (New International Version).  And Genesis 17:7, "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you" (NIV).  

I meditated on these Scriptures, I realized as grandparents we are positioning our children and our children's children to receive blessings from the Lord and to establish now the opportunity for them to train up their children in the way they should go so when they are older they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6, NKJV). 

Being a grandma is still new and a bit surreal to me.  But as many new grandparents have traditions of planting a tree or flower in honor of the grandchildren or create stepping stones with the grandchildren's handprints on a tile, this is my opportunity to begin a tradition with my grandchildren, preparing the next generation to be told of the Lord.  I recently read the book, "The Promise Box" by Tricia Goyer.  In it, the main character's mother kept a box of important Scriptures, events in the life of the daughter, and things she wanted to tell her daughter, but couldn't just then.  That is what I am planning to do.  I'm going to begin writing down things for little Jackson so when he's older or I've left this world, he will have some knowledge and understanding of just who Gramma Lyn was.

So am I too young to be a grandma?  No.  I am merely entering a new season with new opportunities to share the Lord with the next generation!

Blessings!!