Her Name Is Lois

9/15/2014

    One day just for fun, I thought I might do a word search for "grandmother" in the Bible. As a result, I may have discovered two secrets to becoming the awesomely unbeatable, bona fide best grandmother of the supreme sort!

Curiously enough, there are only two grandmothers (referencing this English word) recorded in Scripture--a "good" one and a "bad" one. My study today will focus on the "good" one. I wondered what secrets we might learn from her.

    The Apostle Paul writes to his protege Timothy, "For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well" (2 Timothy 1:5). You might recall that Timothy was apparently raised by his mother and grandmother Lois.    Considering Timothy's influence on Christianity, I suspect his mother and grandmother were quite influential in his life.

Secret #1: Learn to Be Agreeable

     The name "Lois" is recorded only this time in the New Testament and when transliterated to English means agreeable (BLB). In practical terms, I reasoned that I could and probably should learn to be more agreeable in my role of parenting adult children. It means that I agreeably accept in quite the agreeable fashion and with an agreeable smile whatever methods or styles or preferences my children choose to demonstrate while raising their own children.

    Alas, there is a bit of a learning curve involved because how I raised my own children and how children are raised today is, let's just say, WAY different.  Sleep on the back or sleep on the tummy, pacifier or no pacifier, cold formula or warm formula, shoes or no shoes, feed on demand or feed on a schedule, sleep in arms or sleep in crib, rice at 4 months or rice at 6....(and we won't even discuss all the fancy-shmancy gadgets available nowadays!).

   Geesh--just considering all these novelties, medical advances, and new-and-improved ways of parenting causes me to wonder if I really knew anything at all as a parent? (I also do not understand how my four children actually survived their infancy!)

Nostalgic flash-backing aside, learning to be an extraordinarily agreeable grandmother is something I can certainly aspire toward becoming. After all, when my attitude toward all is agreeable (which may mean I keep my mouth shut unless invited to speak), I offer my own children the tremendous right-of-passage allowance to learn, to grow, to rock to their own beats as parents without pressure, disapproval, or tongue wagging of any sort from me!

    Agreeably encouraging and strengthening my children to parent as God leads them really takes a mountain of unnecessary stress and strife out of the picture for all involved.

    But wait! If being agreeable is the icing, the next secret really is the cake.

Secret #2: Create a Faith Chain

   Did you catch the faith chain in the 2 Timothy passage above: faith dwelling in the grandmother, dwelling in the mother, and dwelling in the son? As far as I can discern, outside of faith, there are only three other items, if you will, that "dwell" in a believer: the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:11), God (2 Cor. 6:16), and the words of Christ. (Col. 3:16) Metaphorically, this verb means to "to dwell in one and influence him (for good)" (BLB). This tells me that because faith is nestled alongside these three entities, it must be pretty important and quite powerful!

    Have you ever considered how your inner faith in God and the outward demonstration of your faith effect your children and grandchildren?    Life pretty much drives many a Christian mom to her knees. If I do not aim to be a good role model for my children, if I do not practice what I preach, if I do not seek God daily and privately, if my faith is not somehow measurable, viewable, tangible, demonstrable in my life, might I be missing opportunities to influence theirs?

    Faith isn't exactly transferable between hearts, but it is certainly impressive upon hearts. Although there are no guarantees that our children will follow Jesus with all their heart, mind, and strength just because we do, I'd like to believe that when I take my final step, I will have left a chain of faith behind me (like Lois did) for my children to pick up and to contend with and God-willing to take hold of.


    I can wholeheartedly tell you that my grandmother left her faith chain for me. She lost one child, five adult children, and two husbands to death in her lifetime; yet through such heartache and trial, her trust in God, His goodness, His sovereign ways only fueled her faith and increased her love for the Lord. Some might say that her lot in life was marked by a cruel god, but more than once I heard her proclaim of God's great love and tender care for her through her pain and suffering. What faith in action!

   So here we have it. Actively demonstrating our faith in God as well as fostering an agreeable attitude toward all the small stuff our parenting children contend with (and most is really, really small stuff) might just be the ticket to becoming the best grandmother we can possibly imagine.

link pic: friendlytoyz.com