Yesterday, while at church, there was a message to all the grandparents and those persons that stand in as “grandparents”, thanking us and reminding us for being the people we are; imperfect, but filled with love. We are grandparents that have prayed for and loved our children and ultimately the grandchildren God had blessed us with.

So it was, as I thought of my own children and grandchildren. I too am  flawed and at times felt inadequate to be a parent, but I always prayed and believed my love for them would override my inadequacies.

As I have so often shared, God is always in the details of situations which transpire in our lives. As I read my devotions today, it was on parenting. The timing was impeccable, having just received recognition yesterday as a grandparent. Certainly, we can’t be grandparents if we aren’t parents.

It is most often our children that see our inadequate personalities and traits. Our grandchildren may receive only the “best.” The years of sacrificing and conflicts while parenting have been replaced with sweet words, hundreds of hugs and countless treats. Most often, as grandparents we no longer have the burden of rearing these children, but only showering them with our love and devotion.

 As the  father in the devotion wrote of kneeling beside his young son’s bed, sorrowful over the attitude he had toward his son’s actions. God reminded him that as a father he expected his son to act as an adult. How often, I too kneeled alongside my sleeping child or sat with them as I hugged them tenderly pleading for their forgiveness of my flaws and frailties.

As parents we see and understand  words and actions of our children can cause them to be remorseful later in their lives if they cling to those childish ways. Thus, it  may seem we are constantly “nagging” our precious children to be better, to say better, to do better.

How often  do parents have obstacles and difficulties in our lives which prevent us from seeing clearly as we “parent” our children? We’ve all heard countless times that our children don’t arrive with a “how to” manual. All the child rearing books in the world can not enable us as parents to be the parent our children may desire.

Like the father in my devotion, kneeling beside his young son and apologizing for his actions of that day or days past, we so often wish we could have , a “do-over” for that day or weeks past. We can only take each day and continue to do our best.

We pray and trust when our children become parents they may reflect on their times as children and have an understanding that the actions of their parents was not to harm or injure them, but from great love for them. As quoted in Focus On The Family 2017, “Parental love can be transforming for you and your child. But it is an endeavor that can always use improvement and refinement. A parent’s love is full of mistakes and mishaps, but it is the essential glue to our imperfect and messy family relationships.”

NIV 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth.”