Skip to main content

Review: Grandparenting with Grace by Larry McCall


When I conjure up the picture of perfect grandparents, I think of people who invest and play with their grandkids. The sort of old folks kids see as people who will spoil them and be fun. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have grandparents like this?
In  Grandparenting with Grace , Larry McCall goes deeper than my imaginations by thinking about what scripture teaches regarding grandparenting. He writes about ultimate issues, namely the salvation and growth of children and grandchildren and then practically suggests how to be intentional, Christ-focused grandparents. 

A Biblical View of Grandchildren
 
Created in God’s Image 
For grandparents to do this, they need to see grandchildren as God does. They are made in his image and made to depend on him. Grandparents can be involved in their lives to guide them to find and see that God has the answers to the questions and challenges of life.

In Need of a Savior
Understanding who they are from a biblical perspective, means that grandchildren need Jesus as their Savior. They need to be born again. As grandparents guide them, they will want to model a lifestyle of repentance and forgiveness and protect them from harmful influences. Larry McCall gives suggestions about how to guide grandchildren into thinking biblically about themselves and life around them.
He then moves on to emphasis the importance of working on the relationships with the grandchildren’s parents and communicating and agreeing with them about how to relate to their children. 

Intentional Grandparenting
God’s purpose for grandparents is that they pass the faith on to their grandchildren. To be able to do this, grandparents have to be intentional in relating to them. This will mean building relationships, praying, and modeling a Christian lifestyle. For this work of the Lord to occur in their hearts, grandparents have to be praying people.
Wisely, Larry McCall provides suggestions about how to intentionally grandparent in today’s culture. This includes when they live long distance, when there has been divorce, when there are step children in the family, when the grandparent is the primary caregiver, and when there have been broken relationships. In closing, Larry McCall emphasizes that grandparents are called to leave the legacy of faith, love, and dependence on Jesus. 

Personal Reflections
This is the first book I have read about grandparenting. It wisely looks at God’s purpose for grandparenting, who grandchildren are by nature according to the Bible, and then moves on to make practical suggestions about how to be intentionally involved in grandchildren’s lives in order to achieve God’s purpose. I was thankful that some family set ups in today’s culture were explored and wise suggestions were made. The book draws us out of the prevalent view of grandparents being there to spoil their grandchildren, to practically teach grandparents about how to intentionally relate as God has called them. It is a book I would highly recommend to any grandparent.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overcoming Addiction: 9 Steps Toward Freedom, Brad Hambrick

  In OvercomingAddiction: 9 Steps Toward Freedom , Brad Hambrick has written a gem of a small group workbook for helping people struggling with addictions. As part of the G4 series, he covers nine steps in the recovery process. These steps cover admitting the struggle, understanding the impact of the addiction, and how the addiction developed. From here, the steps encompass repentance, relationships, restructuring life, and understanding various forms of temptation at different stages of the recovery process. The book is insightful, compassionate, and helpful.
Post a Comment
Read more

Understanding Trauma

  In Understanding Trauma , Steve Midgley wisely and compassionately guides and leads the reader into a deeper understanding of this devastating experience. Midgley sensitively writes in such a way that the reader comes away with compassionate insight into what trauma victims experience. He discerningly shares secular insights on the experience of trauma and follows on from this to provide a loving biblical perspective on it. As well as providing insights, he also gives pointers for how churches can support and care for people who have gone through this terrible experience. I highly recommend this book.
Post a Comment
Read more

Categorising Humanness

Categorizing Humanness When my grandfather was a prisoner-of-war, he was witness to incredible cruelty on the part of the captors. Since the prisoners were viewed as not being human, the captors felt free to treat them in anyway they wished. According to the captors, the prisoners were inferior creatures. De-Humanizing People being judged as inferior beings, is something that I have come across frequently when helping women. Sometimes husbands have told them that they are inferior simply because they are women. Children have been treated as inferior to their parents only because they are younger. Local people in a given town can treat people from other countries and cultures as inferior because they are different. Old people can suffer in this way as they are seen to be a burden to the economy. Disabled people are seen as lesser beings because they do not function as other people do. It is even questioned whether the old, the disabled, and the sick should continue to...
Post a Comment
Read more