Jody Brown
OneNewsNow.com editor-in-chief
May 2009 – … [T]hese words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. Deut. 6:6-7a, NKJV
As a grandparent, I’m a bit of a greenhorn … but I’m learning fast.
Less than two years ago, our first grandchild – a girl – was born. Eleven months later, we were up to five grandchildren. While that’s not an approach I’d recommend to just anyone who can’t wait for the next generation to arrive, the deluge of new youngsters in our lives has been a total joy. But if there’s a downside, it’s probably the quick learning curve for this grandpa. Those kiddos who have come later in the sequence of arrivals are not benefiting from lessons I have learned from years of experience as a grandparent simply because all the grandkids came at once!
That said, however, I have learned two things clearly, neither of which will come as a surprise to those who are more experienced grandparents.
First thing I’ve learned? There’s always time for a grandchild. I haven’t discovered anything yet that is so important that I can’t stop what I’m doing to pick her up and read to her, for example – or simply deliver a hug and a smooch. While that may be more indicative than anything that I lead a fairly ho-hum life, I believe firmly it’s got to be one of the primary principles of grandparentdom: there’s always time for ’em.
The second thing I’ve learned, however, is something I re-learned several – no, umpteen – times as a parent: they’re always watching! I was reminded of this a couple of months ago when I sat down at the kitchen table and hurriedly began devouring my lunch so I could make it back to work by the end of my lunch hour. (That’s the honest truth, Brother Don!) Brileigh, my first-born grandchild, was sitting across the table from me. She looked at me wide-eyed, raised her little 19-month-old hands in the air, and asked simply: “Amen?”
I had forgotten to pray. You see, since she could sit up in a high chair, she had seen us hold hands and pray before mealtime, and she had just witnessed her grandpa jump right into his meal without bowing his head, softly saying a few words, and finishing with “Amen.”
I’m not so legalistic to say I felt guilty for eating without first offering up a prayer. (Don’t look at me that way! You’ve probably done it at least once in your lifetime, too.) I did, however, sense a friendly reminder from the Lord that I play a critical spiritual role in Brileigh’s life, in the lives of all my grandchildren. And part of my responsibility as a grandparent – and yours, also, if you happen to be so blessed – is to make sure they understand that God has no grandchildren, that they need to establish their own relationship with the Creator through Jesus Christ, that they cannot get to heaven on their parents’ or their grandparents’ coattails.
Interestingly, that’s a lesson I didn’t learn myself until I was 20 years old. Sometimes we preacher’s kids are the hardest to convince that we need a personal relationship with the Lord.
I know I have many more things to learn about being a grandparent but I doubt they could be any more important than understanding my spiritual role as a grandpa.It’s a good thing, too. After a hiatus of about a year, grandchild #6 is on the way. 
