Train Up a Child
The Fruit of Our Giving
Two grandmothers were talking about buying gifts at Christmas
One of the grandmothers shared a story
One year she had worked hard to find the right gift
That toy that the child was wanting so bad
It was fun watching the child rip off the wrapping paper and jumping with joy
Then a few month later seeing that gift in a garage sale
Being sold for pennies on the dollar
The two grandmothers concluded the energy and cost of gifts
Had little value in comparison to the gift of time with purpose
Give the gifts of encouragement and examples
They don’t sell those things in garage sales
The Fruit of Our Giving
Sandy and another grandmother were
talking about Christmas gifts
for their grandchildren.
Being a grandparent at Christmas can be a hard thing.
As a grandparent your heritage,
your life, are those grandchildren.
Grandmothers gave birth to their children,
a memory they cannot forget.
As the days and years go by,
those children grow.
Then comes the day…
You see your children giving birth to children,
an extension of you.
This bond of love is amazing
and can create challenges in how to show it.
It seems in every church there is the grandmotherly type
who is buying the love of the children by giving candy.
I remember being a child
and knowing after church
I wanted to go see the lady giving out candy.
Giving gifts has always been associated with gift giving.
Grandmothers especially love to give gifts.
As Sandy and this other grandmother
were talking about Christmas…
They talked about the challenges of
giving to the grandchildren.
The issue of a fixed income.
The different ages.
The time and place.
As they were talking of all these challenges…
They talked about the gift.
What gift would the children want?
Where would you get it?
The time it takes to find the right gift.
Sandy shared something that had
shaped her thoughts on giving.
One year she had worked hard to find the right gift.
That toy that the child was wanting so bad.
It was fun watching the child rip off the wrapping paper
and jumping with joy when they saw that toy
they had seen on TV sitting in front of them.
Then a few month later seeing that gift in a garage sale
being sold for pennies on the dollar.
Sandy and this other grandmother have wrestled
with how to show their love to their grandchildren.
There had to be something better than giving a toy
that ended up in a garage sale.
There is such pressure to buy our children’s love.
When I think of my grandparents
I don’t think of the gifts they gave me...
I think of the time we spent together
where I got to see how they lived and handled life.
How they showed confidence in me
even when I was failing in grades at school.
One of the ideas Sandy has had is…
To spent the money on a lodge
where we can all spend a few days together.
We have also saved money by having
a lock-in in our home for a couple days.
Those times together have helped us
as grandparents to learn about our grandchildren.
And for our grandchildren to learn about
how we face life by the stories we shared.
We found we are creating more then memories,
we are sharing the lesson of life.
The older teaching the younger
by spending time together.
Being together with more than the purpose
of getting a child the toy they want.
But a purpose to talk about their life
and share the lessons learned from your life.
My grandparents have been gone for many years
and the toys they bought forgotten.
But I still remember my grandparents
and the way they lived.
I find that I think about their lives more after
they are gone, as I reach the ages they were.
Sandy and this other grandmother concluded
the energy and cost of gifts had little value
in comparison to the gift of time with purpose.
Give the gifts of encouragement and examples.
They don’t sell those things in garage sales.
Scripture Reading
Proverbs 22:6 NIV
6 Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
