I woke up on Saturday, November 27, without any living grandparents for the first time in my life. I’m 1 week short of 41 and I have never not had at least 1 grandparent alive. You may say that everyone loses their grandparents at some point. You are correct, this is true. It will eventually happen to all of us. But when you have gotten to enjoy them for 40 plus years, it hits home when they are gone. I was fortunate enough to have all of mine be a part of my life for at least 36 years. My first grandparent passed away when I was 36 years old. I knew that at some point, as they aged, that when it started happening, all 4 of them would pass away in a relatively short amount of time. It was inevitable.
I even knew all of my great-grandparents for several years of my life. I was in my 20’s when I lost my last great-grandparent. Grandparents are special. They get away with things because they are the grandparents, even though the parents don’t always agree. They get away with giving the child that extra cookie, or the 3rd pop of the day. Then they get to send them home jacked up on sugar. That’s just the way it goes. It’s the grandparent life.
My own kids had the privilege of knowing my grandparents, and knowing them well. Since all of my grandparents lived into their 80’s and 90’s, all 3 of my kids got to spend quality time with them. Now my kids have the privilege of having wonderful grandparents themselves. My wife lost her grandparents when she was young. She didn’t know hers very well. She didn’t get to spend the time with hers that I did with mine. She considered mine hers, and they felt the same about her. They all took care of her like one of their own. For that, I am forever thankful.
My last living grandparent, Papa, passed away Saturday morning. He was 96 and living by himself in Edmond. I’d say that is a life well lived if you can do that at 96 years young. As I look back at what my grandparents meant to me, I am reminded of so many things. I have so many memories that I will cherish forever. I could tell stories for a long time about memories of all of them over the last 40 years. I have so many memories of going to their houses when I was a kid and staying the weekend or staying at their house during the holidays. My cousins and I on both sides had so many good times at their houses growing up. I hope that someday, some distant day, I can be half the grandparent to my grandchildren that mine were to me and my family.
As I think about their lives, I know where they are now. They were all four Christians. They are all four together now. As of Saturday morning, they are all united and with their Heavenly Father. It’s amazing the peace that can bring loved ones that are still on this Earth.
So here is my mission. Here is what I think about literally every day. I want to see them again. I know that as a Christian, as long as I keep my faith in God, I will see them again. I will be re-united with them one day. That’s easy to say, but it has to be a daily focus. There are some things that I think about every morning that motivate me to be on a mission to not let satan win the day.
The first thing I want to do is make all of them proud. I want them to look down on my family and I and smile because we are carrying on the Christian legacy they set for our family. They raised a son and a daughter that later became my parents, and those two passed on the love of Christ to me and I am forever thankful for that. Because of God’s promise to us and the faith that was passed down, I know we can all be together again. But, in the meantime, I want them to be proud of the life we live while we are on this Earth.
The second thing is that I want to make sure that my kids get to see them again too. As parents, what greater responsibility do we have than making sure that our children see Christ lived out in our homes. We have a responsibility to our children to make sure their souls are taken care of. That comes from the example we set for our children. It goes beyond talking to them about it. They need to see it lived out in our lives. They need to see faith in action. They need to see a servant’s heart every day at home. I am so thankful that my grandparents taught my family, through their actions, how to love God, love other people, and love each other as husband and wife.
We are all driven by different things. We all have things in our life that motivate us. I have other things that motivate me to be a Christian too, but these things are right up there at the top of that list. I know this isn’t the type of blog that I normally write. Those that know me know that I am not a real emotional guy, especially not outwardly. But, life is full of first, and this weekend was the first time I woke up without grandparents. This weekend was the first time that I can’t call one of them or take my kids by to see them. I knew this day would come. I knew it would happen one day. But here it is. It is reality now. I know that my wife and my mom, at least, are crying as they read this. That is ok. They don’t get this side of me very often, but today, here it is.
We must always remember where we come from. Always remember what people have done for us and be thankful for that. We all have memories of growing up and memories of our hometown. That is very important. That part of our life is the where. But we also need to always remember WHO we come from. Remember who we represent. We represent our family in everything we do. We represent the people that raised us and the people that raised them. My prayer for all of us is that we make those people proud. I hope that I make the ones that have gone before me proud as they look down on my life from those streets of gold. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Does that mean we are perfect? Absolutely not. We all have peaks and valleys. It takes some of us longer than others to get on the right path (I’m speaking from personal experience here). But, if the seed is planted, it will grow. If the foundation is laid, it will always be there to hold us up! I’m so thankful that foundation was laid for me by some wonderful people.
I know not everyone has been given that foundation. Not everyone grows up in a Christian environment. But, here is the great news. It is never too late. No one is beyond God’s love and mercy. There is a way to receive that love and mercy and if you are reading this and that foundation wasn’t laid as you grew up, there are plenty of people out there that would love to share that story with you just like it was shared with us once upon a time. If this is you, please reach out. Find someone to share that story with you. I promise you don’t have to look very far. Someone, somewhere is ready and willing to share.
Not only do we represent our families every day, but most importantly, theres another WHO that is very important. As Christians we represent God in everything we do. Just like with our family, we will either give others a good or a bad image of God based on how we conduct ourselves. As I have said in here before, we will have a positive impact or a negative impact on everyone we come in contact with each day. My hope is that the positive outnumber the negative by many.
These things are the fire that burns inside me. These things discussed above are what motivate me every day. I want all of my family to be united again one day. In the meantime, I want to make them proud. I want to make sure my kids have Christ as the foundation for their life. Above all, I want to be a disciple of Christ. The wonderful thing is, if I am a disciple of His first and foremost, all of these other things fall into place just perfectly. Crazy how that works, huh? My prayer for everyone that reads this, everyone I come in contact with, and everyone I love, is that we take care of business here on Earth. We do the work of the Lord. We lead our family and others to Christ. Why not take as many people with us as we can? If we do this, one day we will all be united again. That is the great thing about God’s promise. We just have to be mindful everyday of WHO we come from!
Have a great holiday season and God bless!
#LoveGodLovePeople