NO ONE REALLY TELLS YOU
what it’s like being a grandparent.
They don’t tell you that your heart
can swell twice its size –
that love can multiply,
not just add on.
No one tells you
that when you see your child holding a child,
you see every scraped knee,
every bedtime story,
every whispered prayer –
all over again,
layered in a brand-new generation.
No one tells you
that rocking a baby to sleep
as a grandparent
feels like redemption –
a second chance to savour
what once rushed by too quickly.
No one tells you
that joy and ache walk hand in hand –
the joy of watching them grow,
the ache of knowing
your years with them are fewer
than you wish.
No one tells you
that little hands in yours
make you feel both old and young,
that their laughter
is the sweetest hymn,
that their tears
can undo you in an instant.
No one tells you
that being a grandparent
isn’t just a title,
it’s a calling –
to love deeply,
to guide gently,
to leave a legacy
that outlives your days.
And maybe no one tells you,
because there aren’t enough words.
There’s only this –
a love so vast
it can only be understood
when tiny arms wrap around your neck,
and you finally whisper to yourself,
“This … this is what they meant!”
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
CRAZY ABOUT ME?
Certain things about God are easy to imagine. I can picture him creating the world and suspending the stars. I can envision him as almighty, all-powerful and in control. I can fathom a God who knows me, who made me, and I can even fathom a God who hears me.
But a God who is in love with me? A God who is crazy about me? A God who cheers for me? That’s hard to imagine …
But that IS the meaning of Christmas …
MAX LUCADO – ‘THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN’
CARPE DIEM
DREAM
as
if
you’ll
live
forever.
LIVE
as
if
you’ll
die
today.
THE ONLY WAY:
The only way we can LIVE
is if we GROW.
The only way we can GROW
is if we CHANGE.
The only way we can CHANGE
is if we LEARN.
The only way we can LEARN
is if we are EXPOSED.
And the only way we can become EXPOSED
is if we THROW ourselves out into the open.
DO IT!
THROW YOURSELF …
C. JOYBELL C
GRANDKIDS = GOOD MEDICINE
There’s been a huge amount of research about what it does for grandparents to be close to their grandchildren. Like, if you’re a grandparent and you see and interact with your grandchild more often, you’re likely to live longer … you’re likely to have a greater sense of purpose and meaning and connection … you’re likely to laugh more … you’re even more likely to recover from illness more often.
I’ve seen that in the eyes of my parents and my wife’s parents when they get around our girls – it’s just unmitigated joy. There’s something about proximity of grandkids that’s literally medicinal for grandparents.
AJAY SHARMA
DANCE WITH THE LIMP
You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken. And the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved.
But this is also the GOOD NEWS …
They love forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through.
It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly – that still hurts when the weather gets cold – but you learn to live with the limp.
ANNE LAMOTT
YEAH, BRING IT ON!
One day people will touch and
talk, perhaps, easily,
And loving be natural as breathing
and warm as sunlight;
And people will untie themselves
as string is unknotted,
Unfold and yawn and stretch
and spread their fingers,
Unfurl, uncurl, as seaweed returned
to the sea.
And work will be
simple and swift as a seagull flying,
And play will be casual and
quiet as a seagull settling;
And the clocks will stop,
and no one will wonder or care or notice,
And people will smile without reason,
even in winter, even in the rain.
A.S.J. TESSIMOND
LET THIS SINK IN …
The EARTH is just 1 of
3,200,000,000,000 (3.2 trillion)
planets in our galaxy.
The SUN is just 1 of
200,000,000,000 (200 billion) stars
in the Milky Way.
The MILKY WAY is just 1 of
2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion)
galaxies in the observable universe.
And we HUMANS are just flecks of
dust living on a miniscule blue-
green speck in the middle of this
vastness.
(Kinda puts things in perspective, eh?)
GOTTA KEEP LIVING
The longest nights are seldom seen approaching. Storms may not be heard until they break. Like life itself, challenges and change are there to be confronted and we must weather them, alone or together. You will feel better than this. Maybe not yet, but you will. You just have to keep living until you’re alive again.
JENNY – ‘CALL THE MIDWIFE’
UNPLUGGED?
My
son
made
the
mistake
of
telling
me
I
was
being
overdramatic –
so
I’ve
just
turned
off
the
WiFi.
We’ll see who’s overdramatic in about five minutes …
anonymous DAD
