Next Stop, Grandparenthood!

A LADY FRIEND - much younger than my wife and I - calls me up one night from her house and declares that she is in a state of panic; her eldest daughter who's just turned 18 is going into labor.  Our friend says that the stress s killing her and she needed a friendly voice to keep her sanity considering that her husband was not at home.  Half an hour after she called, they speed off to the nearest hospital in our place.  Around 2.30 in the morning, I am roused from my sleep with a text message: "Yehey, I'm now a grandmother!" 

Around two Sundays ago, we celebrated Grandparents’ Day.  And in a way, our friend's exciting journey into grandmotherhood aptly dovetailed to this whole affair.  And lo, a heartwarming thought!  In a few more years, my generation which saw the light of day in the ‘60s, will be fully an entire generation of grandparents too, either by blood, affinity, or by any creative design. 

In the grand scheme of things, it is a turning of events, the opening of a new major chapter in our lives that come to light.  In time, we become grandparents ourselves to make way for a new generation of the young, the better for hope to spring anew.  And far from dreading the coming twilight of our own years, we rejoice in being ushered into the most exciting times of our lives.  This is where we ensure that indeed better things will happen for those who will come after us.

            Each page that unfolds in this new chapter in our lives is not to step closer to the end, but to claim a God-given opportunity at redemption.  It is not a time for remorse or regret, but for righting the wrongs.  It is not a time for complacency, but for imparting wisdom from experience.  It is not a time for indifference, but for imbuing the young with wise counsel.  It is not a time for silence, but for speaking more of God and his goodness and mercy.  It is not a time for feeling worthless, but for allowing ourselves to be His instruments for whatever use He might consider us worthy.  It is not a time for smugness, but for setting legacies for our family, our loved ones, and our community; yes, especially our parish community. 

            In the end, we should do well to be like the virtuous described in Psalms 92: 13-15 who “flourish like palm trees, … thrive like the cedars…; planted in the house of the Lord, they will prosper in the courts of our God.  In old age they will still bear fruit, they will stay fresh and green, to proclaim that the Lord is upright, that He is my rock and there is no injustice in Him.”

            Let us pray for a meaningful and God-directed coming of age of all grandparents, grandparents-to-be, and those who feel deep within that for whatever reason they also deserve to be called grandparents, as well as to the new generation that has made and is making this possible.

(This article has appeared in my column The Wandering View, in the St. Paul of the Cross's Weekly Parish Newsletter, vol. 1, no. 46, Sept. 18, 2011.)