One of the most powerful things we can do as grandparents is to pray for our grandchildren. Over and over in Scripture, God promises to hear, listen to and answer our prayers! Many grandparents believe this and are focused prayer warriors for their grandchildren.
There is also another very powerful thing we can do as grandparents — model thankfulness. We can have a great deal of influence on our grandchildren for what it means and looks like to be people who are thankful.
Think about it for a minute. Are you thankful? We tend to be quick to turn to God in prayer to ask for something. He wants us to do this, but are we just as quick to thank God when He answers our prayers? Do we thank God for the big and little everyday ways He shows His “fingerprints” in our lives?
If we are quick to be thankful, sincerely thankful, this will impact our grandchildren’s lives. In Psalms 78 we read how the people of Israel forgot God. Generations arose who did not remember God and all He did for them. They were not thankful and fell into sin and away from God.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we tend to think and talk more about being thankful. This is good, but giving thanks is also something we need to do all year long. When we are thankful, truly thankful, then we are helping our grandchildren see and remember what God is doing in our lives! It is very difficult to forget God when we are focused upon being thankful to Him for all He does – big and small.
What do you do to help your grandchildren be truly thankful people? One small thing I do is at each meal, each person at the table has a turn to share about something for which they are thankful.
Just as we want to be people who are focused upon praying, we want to be people who are focused upon being thankful, because when we are, we will be helping our children’s children see and remember God!
