A Happy Return
In this day and time, we all want more for our money. We are even willing to risk our money through investments in hopes of reaping a substantial return. We take steps to eat healthy, exercise and take care of ourselves mentally and emotionally in order to get a return of good health and strong mental soundness.
When we teach our children to be kind, respectful, obedient and try to make every effort to insure they feel loved, even in this, we are making an investment in them. We wait with anticipation for a return of well-adjusted adults.
We all can agree, though, that the best return is when we get substantially more than what we put in. That kind of return comes few and far between. But there is an investment that yields more than we could have ever imagined. What is this return from such an investment? Grandchildren! Talking about getting more than we put in!
Most of us did not invest in our children as we would have liked. Maybe we didn’t spend enough time with them or maybe we were there for them physically but not emotionally. It could be that we didn’t affirm their self-worth or demonstrate our love to them as we should have.
There are probably many reasons for our insufficiency; financial responsibilities, being emotionally bankrupt ourselves, being too hard or too soft. But, whatever the reason, it is no doubt that, in our hearts, we only wanted the best for our children.
We can’t, unfortunately, go back and make things right. However, we can let our children know that our heart was to be a good parent even though we may have fallen short. We’d be surprised how those words will bring healing to our relationship with our children and eradicate years of mental and emotional pain. There are parents, though, who were there for their children in a very big way. That is an awesome testament to good parenting!
But, for those of us whose investment in our children was minimal, the “return” of grandchildren has procured overwhelming joy and healing for our hearts for not being the parents we could have been. What is more rewarding and precious than little feet running full force to you and all you hear is a voice yelling, “Grandma, Grandpa!”
As grandparents, we treasure every moment with them (we have more time now). It seems that when we are away from them, we actually crave to be with them. And when we leave them, we are on a high like no other. Spending time with them brings a gush of joy that’s inexplainable! It’s almost like we’re addicted! As often as possible, we have to get our “fix” of grandparent time. We pour our love into them from the deepest place within us.
Our children may say that we spoil them or let them get away with murder (so to speak). They fail to understand the mystery of our relationship with our grandkids, the depth of the connection. This is love’s payback. It actually stems from our love which we feel for our own children but failed to demonstrate fully when they were young.
The love we show to our grandchildren is unhindered by deadlines, emotional baggage or financial obligations (in fact, we love spending our money on them). So, our love flows freely and completely to them.
A monetary gain, the gain of a healthy body or even the gain of responsible and loving adult children are all without question remarkable. But the reward of grandchildren is the result of an investment which has brought about a very happy return that keeps yielding profits for a grandparent’s heart!
Copyright Jacquelyn Sanders Lott “All Rights Reserved”
