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Influencing the Younger Generation

"A grandmother's special calling is to pray and to be a fellow worker in the battle in which her children or her grandchildren are engaged." ~ Elisabeth Elliott.

"There is nothing like a grandmother to love you and accept you."  ~ Anne Graham Lotz

We were having dessert with some friends and I shared with them my passion about grandparents having such a positive influence on their grandchildren and the fact that we need to accelerate this influence because the values of our past are not being taught anymore.

Art's Story
Art, a man of about 50 years of age, started tearing up and told us about his grandfather. When Art was a rebellious teenager, his parents kicked him out of the house. When his grandfather heard about this, he took a bus and rode across two provinces to find his grandson. When he found him, he encouraged him, gave him love and wise counsel. After all these years, Art is still moved to tears to think that his grandfather loved him that much.

Our Influence on Those Around us
I stopped by our dry cleaners to pick up my coat. It was 3:30, after school, and mothers were in line to get their cleaning as well. The clerk behind the counter was at least eight months pregnant.

My attention was drawn to the woman beside me who very rudely complained about her bill. I found this interesting because we are told the price of the cleaning bill when we drop off the clothes. She left and the next woman in line was even more rude and abrasive. She had three daughters with her - observing this scene. She left in a huff - her daughters followed.

Next came a woman who pushed herself to the front of the line saying, "I’m next." Fortunately, the woman she shoved aside didn’t fight for her position. Neither did the clerk react - she was calm, cool and collected.

The three women were obviously in a high stress mode. Was it the Christmas bills? Was it the fact that they were working plus raising a family and keeping house? Was it because the clerk was a woman of color and they didn’t think she deserved to be treated with kindness? I don’t know. But that incident made me wonder, what has happened to the golden rule,

"Do to others as you want them to do to you."

I thought to myself, what is the younger generation going to be like when they are parents.

For years I thought my child raising was done when our children had left home. How wrong I was. Loving, nuturing, caring, and teaching the younger generation is never finished. I think the enemy has perpetrated that lie and we as grandparents have fallen for it.

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~ Katherine has been a staff member with  Power to Change Canada for 30 years. She has launched and developed many successful ministries, including  Canadian Prayer Alert, Women In Leadership, Women Today, Women Today Magazine and Women Today Online. Katherine has written and published a book, When Dreams Come True:  Women Today Online. She serves as the director for www.secretsofsuccess.com.