A Good Friend Helps in Times of Struggle

There really are no words to describe the special connection between a grandparent and a grandchild. Jokingly, grandparents tease by saying, “If only we could have had the grandchildren first.” 😉

Grandmas and grandpas learn so much from their grandchildren. A few lessons we’ve learned from our four grandkids are:

❤ Becoming a better listener,

❤ Cultivating patience,

❤ Awakening curiosity,

❤ Staying active,

❤ Finding joy in the simple things,

❤ Laughing and having great fun, and…

❤ Discovering having great fun is A LOT of work the older we get. 😜

Not only do grandparents learn from their grandkids, our grandchildren learn from us. I think of my hubby who has more patience than anyone I know. He is a great role-model for this character trait. He also loves to do projects, so he invites the grands to explore and create with him.

We can also teach our grandchildren about our faith. I had this opportunity arise recently.

Camping is something we love to do. When the grandchildren can’t come to the camper, then we bring the camper to our grandkids.

A few weekends ago was filled with tons of camping activities. One of those was swimming. The grands were going to get their swimsuits on. My granddaughter and I were in the camper and no rooms were available to get dressed with privacy. I offered to hold up a blanket for her while she changed clothes. She accepted.

About three minutes had passed and I asked her how she was doing. She responded she was almost done. I told her I was thankful because my arms were getting tired from holding up the blanket. This brought a bible story to mind so I shared it with her while I continued to hold up the blanket and she finished dressing.

“Sibyl, this reminds me of a story in the bible. Have you heard the story of Moses holding up his staff?”

“I haven’t, Grandma.”

“Moses was leading his people to freedom. While they were traveling, they ran into some people who wanted to fight them. Moses had a staff, or a big stick, that God had given him to use to protect them. When Moses held up this staff, his people were winning the war against the bad guys. When he lowered his arms and the staff, they would start to lose. Two of his friends saw how hard it was for him to hold up his arms for that long so they went to him to help him out. His friends found a spot for him to sit down, and then one friend stood on one side of Moses, and the other friend stood on the other side. They held up his arms for him. Moses and his people won the battle. Isn’t that a great friend to have, Sibs?”

“It is, Grandma.”

“I have a friend like that. I know my friend would help me out and support me whenever I really needed the help. I hope you find a friend or two like that, Sibs.”

“Me, too, Grandma. I’m done.”

Down went the blanket and, off to the pool we went.

Grandchildren bring so much love and hope and joy to our lives. Hopefully we grandparents bring a little of those things to theirs too (with a lot of spoiling to boot). There is no better gift than the special connection we have with each grandchild. Let’s never stop sharing our faith with them.