On Being a Grandparent

My family is currently playing the waiting game. Each day brings news of more false labor, another visit to the doctor, a trip to the hospital only to be sent home, more exhaustion for mom and still no baby. This will be the first grandchild for both sets of Grandparents, so we’re even communicating with one another about our excitement and concern for the new parents and our new grandchild.

My daughter asked me one day what I would like to be called by the child. My answer was, “whatever comes out of their mouth…they get to name me.” I had not given it much thought at the time, but now the excitement of hearing a child call me their grandmother brings immense joy to my heart. Little Sam Miller calls me ‘Grand-nanny’ and every time those words come out of his mouth it brings a huge smile to my face and a sweet swelling in my heart. I can only imagine that having a grandchild will be much the same.

Several church members have shared with me how unprepared I really am for this event…that I cannot truly imagine how wonderful it will really be when that child finally arrives. No amount of thought or consideration can prepare me for the overwhelming spring of love that will pour forth from my heart when I finally get to lay eyes on him and hold him for the first time. I may not know how my emotions will actually unfold until I reach that moment, but I do know how spectacular the anticipation is for my family…and that is pretty amazing!

I can’t help but wonder about this monumental event in our lives, and this leads me to considerations as a person of faith. Overwhelming emotions of love in my life always leads me to consider the love offered to us by God, through Christ. If God is the epitome of  LOVE, then how puny is our own emotions in comparison. If this huge swell of love that I recognize in my own heart is so immense, and yet so small in comparison to the love offered to us in Christ, then I cannot comprehend how much greater is that love by God. It just isn’t possible! Just pondering the vastness of it all is amazing to me. It makes me so incredibly grateful to be able claim just the smallest portion of it all…and humbles me when I consider what I actually deserve in relation to what is actually offered.

I thank God for a life so richly blessed with so much love to give and receive. It is my prayer that each of you may also know this blessing in your own lives…and that you recognize it as God’s gift when you are faced with overwhelming love at any of life’s precious moments.

Blessings,
Tracy