The Teacher becomes the Student
As grandparents we love our grandchildren and spending time with them is fun if a bit exhausting and trying. Not long ago Thad and I got to spend six days taking care of them and their family dog while our daughter and son-in-love took a much needed and deserved time out on a Christian Couples Cruise.
Now we had taken care of the kids in the past but it was for a long weekend. This time it was during the school year with our oldest grandson now in his first year of high school and the youngest in second grade.
There was the different school schedules, after school activities in two different schools. Throw in Homecoming, a friend who was spending the night, carpooling and different dietary needs and well, I was just a little nervous as to whether Thad and I could successfully, with the Holy Spirit in our hearts, take this on. Or would Nana and Opa totally lose it and their parents find them attached with Velcro to their bedroom walls.
But Francesca and Richard left detailed, daily plans from the morning schedules to afternoon schedules, menu’s for breakfast lunch and dinner, with the food already in the house for all six days. Even their lunches were packed, and labeled with the day of the week and their names. Their friends had been alerted in case we needed them and their contact info was provided.
It was really impressive.
But I was still scared. After all, we were no longer spring chickens, with memories that glitched like a dying computer and bodies that were seizing up like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.
Don’t get me wrong the notebook was really helpful. But the one thing that helped the most was something I would never have thought of.
Francesca had written biblical verses on Post-It notes through out their home. As I found myself washing my face in their bathroom, or preparing protein shakes in the kitchen, or washing clothes in the laundry room; I saw and read each of the verses. Throughout the six days, these biblical quotes helped me to remain in the word, filling me with the Holy Spirit and enabled me to reset my attitude and my tone. It made all the difference for me and the kids!
So much so, that I made a list of them, added some of my favorite bible verses and typed up my own cards (and made a set for her as well) to put around our home. I even laminating them!
The evening I finished this project and had placed mine around our home, I received a distressed text from a friend who recently lost a family member. Those that were helping with the funeral arrangements were squabbling over what they thought needed to be done. She reached out to me and another friend for guidance and for God’s help.
“Would we know some scripture that might help her and her family get through this?
Immediately, I jumped off the couch and ran around the house like a chicken with its head cut off reading the scriptures that my daughter and now I had put around our home. I began texting these verses and was struck by how almost all of them applied to what my friend was going through.
It was then that I realized that our daughter was becoming the teacher and I her student. Or maybe she was becoming the mother and I the child. Either way, how blessed we were to have a daughter who seeks to live her life according to scripture and the example of Christ. How blessed to be able to follow her lead.
You see, when we are faced with challenges – whether the loss of a family member or taking care of your grandkids while simultaneously aging; God’s words light a path for us to follow and be able to not only survive but thrive.
How great is our God!?!
He plows a path for us that we think is just for us; when in fact he, knowing the bigger picture, is inviting us to share that path with those He knows will need it.
I know that those scriptures helped my friend get through those first few days but will continue to help in the months and years ahead. God is good.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3 -NIV
Thank you for reading my post. If you have found it encouraging please consider liking, commenting or sharing it. Feel free to even re-blog – may these words take flight!
I have additional insights I’d love to share with you found in the pages of my debut book: Surviving Medical Mayhem – Laughing When It Hurts. To order a copy or learn more go to my website at www.lorettaschoen.com
Blessings for Health & Wellness.