Anticipating the Next Generation

As I sit here writing this column, I am anxiously awaiting the anticipated phone call that tells us that it’s time to head to the hospital, to await the arrival of our very first grandchild! There are no words to describe the giddy excitement that my husband and I are experiencing as we await our grandson’s entrance into our world. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about seeing his precious little face for the first time. I can almost smell his sweet little breath and can’t wait to kiss his soft pink cheek.

I have to admit, I’ve been twitter pated like this for some time now. I don’t talk about it much because I just don’t want to come across too terribly obsessed about becoming a grandmother for the first time! I have done a lot of introspection on these strange feelings I am experiencing. Why do I feel this way about a baby I’ve never even seen? What makes him so different from other babies born everyday of the week? Do all grandmas in waiting feel this way? Why didn’t I feel this same giddy excitement when my own babies were about to be born? Don’t get me wrong, I was excited about the birth of my own children, but nothing like what I’m feeling right now! Perhaps the anticipation of labor and delivery kept me from real - over the moon giddiness.

I have even asked other grandmas who are in love with their grandchildren, why it’s so different when your own children are about to become a parent? Did they feel like I do too?

These and many other thoughts have been swarming my mind in recent weeks and months. I think I have finally come to a few conclusions on why I am so pumped with excitement and so emotional about the birth of this little boy.

The first reason I see is that my good husband and I have waited longer than most people our age to finally have grandchildren. We have watched many of our dearest friends have their first grandchildren and most are much younger than we are. I have also come to understand that at 59 years old, I have a healthy respect for life and what it means to see the next generation begin in a family. The Bible talks a lot about generations of families. Some were good, while others lived with a curse on their family because of wrong choices.

I am a second generation Christian mother. My children are third generation Christians. That means that they have chosen my God and His Word to be their God too. Everyone in our family is in spiritual unity on this subject and that makes looking forward to the 4th generation that much more pleasurable. I have found that it is unusual to find three generations of families who chose to walk with God…let alone four generations. I am not at all afraid or apprehensive about how my grandson will be raised. I am not fearful that he will be taught to despise the Word of God or to take it lightly. That does not lessen the responsibility that his parents, my son and my daughter-in-law have in raising him according to high Biblical standards. It is so exciting to know that as new grandparents, we can have spiritual influence on the next generation in our family.

What a thrill it is to see our own little boy grow up and now stand on the threshold of parenthood himself. I feel a weight of responsibility to be a Godly grandmother. I want to be remembered by my grandson as a grandma who loved Jesus. I want him to always remember that his grandma loved God’s book, the Bible more than any other book in the world! There are so many things I want to teach him… and show him…. Oh, so many…. I can’t wait to get started!