Give Heed to Honey

My Mom is affectionately called, Honey, by her grandchildren. What I love most is that mom did not care what she was called but this just happened. My nephew would stay with Mom and Dad and he would hear Dad call her Honey so he did too. I always said it was a good thing my Dad never talked ugly! From then on she was, Honey!

This is an excerpt from a facebook post of my daughter, Ivey, this week. "If you know me, you know how much I love my Honey. The older I've gotten I've learned to appreciate my grandmother not just as a grandmother, but as a person. Have you ever really asked your elders questions about their lives? I love asking her questions about her life when she was my age. What it was like when she first fell in love, when she first got married, her fears and her regrets. You can learn so much from your grandparents and if you're lucky enough to have at least one around, I encourage you to make the effort - you won't regret it and it will mean the world to them. I probably tell Honey too much about my life!"

Ivey and Sarah never knew my paternal grandmother but they spoke of her often growing up because they had heard so much about her. My maternal grandmother was a huge part of their lives. Mike's grandmother was a bright spot in their life until just a few years ago. It was no wonder when my girls were little that they enjoyed going to nursing homes (where we knew no one) and just walked around and visited with people. The residents loved seeing young people! I remember on the last day of summer I would ask what the girls wanted to do - go to the beach, go shopping, etc. A few years they chose to go to the nursing home!

I am so grateful for my girls relationships with my parents. Job 12:12, "Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old." Job 32:7, "I thought, ‘Those who are older should speak, for wisdom comes with age.’ I believe there is a reason that my girls want to spend time with my mother and ask questions. They respect her and know she has much wisdom.

Proverbs 20:29, "The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old." In your mid 30's our physical strength's begin declining until it is gone. That sounds harsh, huh? However, as we physically decline something else starts happening. Something that people in their 30's can't understand - wisdom. It is maturing both mentally and emotionally through experience and accumulated instruction. They begin losing foolishness and impatience and youthful ignorance. Men and women are able to teach younger generations.

Titus 2: 3-5, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slave to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."

These verses show us that women have a ministry whether formal or informal. Mom has a very informal ministry just visiting with her grandchildren. She shows my girls purpose as she teaches and trains them to live as Christian women.

Young women long for an older woman to mentor them. Young men long for an older man to mentor them. Remember we do not have to have formal training to disciple younger people. It happens naturally as we get involved in their lives. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you and I committed to asking God to raise up men and women like this?