My "Grandma Challenge" & Signs of Life/Spring

When it comes to passing on a heritage of faith, there is a certain amount of doing so which requires us as grandparents to learn, to read, to pray and to be challenged by the truth of God's Word. So, we read, we learn, we pray and we attend conferences - or at least we can do this now! (Check this link about the very first ever Grandparenting Conference in Eden Prairie, MN - just outside Minneapolis - this coming May . . . and please plan to join us!)

And while all of these things are excellent - and necessary things for us to do, there comes a time when we have to "act". When we have to engage our grandchildren as we are active about passing on our faith.

My grandsons are young - seven, four and two years old - so I focus on engaging them while they are young to build a foundation on God's Word for them to hold on to. One thing I am doing with them is called my "grandma challenge"!

What is a "grandma challenge" you ask? Well, Josiah is an excellent reader, so he and I are reading through God's Word together - I challenged him to read with me and he accepted! We will both read a chapter in the Bible in the coming week - beginning with Genesis 1. This Saturday when they are at my house, we will talk about what he learned, what was most interesting, what he may not have understood. Then, we will move on to chapter two and follow this format for the rest of the Bible (although we will skip a few of the begat chapters and a few others which may be difficult for a seven year old to make his way through!)

And, to help Josiah connect what we are reading and to engage his younger brothers, we are doing an active component with this as well. For example, Saturday - when we began our challenge - we took a walk outside to look for signs of life/Spring. Things which show us God's amazing creation. We found flowers (sweet Caleb picked some for me!) buds on branches, heard birds singing and noticed how everything here in West Michigan is starting to turn green again!

This week my focus as I pray for my grandsons will be for them to have eyes which are open, so they will be able to see the many ways God is at work in their lives. Genesis 1:1 tells us, "In the beginning God created" and the chapter goes on to show all the many things He made and how they are all "good". Please join me in praying our grandchildren will be able to see God's good hand at work around and in them as they go through this week!