For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

“Grand: Striking in size, scope, extent, or conception, very good, wonderful.”

Merriam-Webster

As much as I would love for my adult children and my grandchildren to describe me using someof the adjectives above  (“very good,” “wonderful”), I’d be far more excited if I knew I was fully actualizing the “striking scope, extent, or conception” aspects of being a grandparent who truly gets the largess of potential we have as the next generation’s influencers for good. Being a grandparent means so much more than merely buying holiday gifts, sending birthday presents, and occasionally showing up for a Little League game (when the weather is practically perfect). Rather, true grandparenting entails embracing the vision God lays out in his word that every single one of us has been singled out, prepared in advance, to do good things by God’s grace alone.

Exciting, isn’t it? To know that the Creator God has chosen us before time to be part of his big plan to help spread the good news, and what better objects to bestow this eternal change-maker message than with our own family? Sure, we all remember those grim moments of parental failure. We can bring to mind painful conversations we had with our now adult children when we blew it in major proportions. We can rehearse until the end of time those seasons when, although we wanted to catch a fresh vision for parenting, we struggled instead just to get out of bed in the morning because we were so weary. What I love most about the prospect of growing into a grandparent who truly gets the stakes of influencing our next generation is this: God can (and will) use every mistake, every mishap, and every parental fail I experienced to equip me to do it better this time around. In simple terms, I’m not as tired as I was when I was parenting 24/7.

Today, I’m older (hopefully wiser) and, given the previous two claims, I’ve got loads more perspective. The eternal kind. The kind of perspective that lasts and sees past the often discouraging daily realities parents face. Hallelujah to graduating from parent to grandparent!

Michele Howe is the author of twenty-seven books for women, children and families. She has published over 3000 articles, reviews, and curricula and has been interviewed on Focus on the Family several times. Her newest releases include Deliver Us: Finding Hope in the Psalms for Moments of Desperation; Big Feelings, Bigger God – Discovering God’s Care in Good Times and Bad; and Finding Freedom and Joy in Self-Forgetfulness. Michele welcomes you follow her blog.

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