YOUNG PEOPLE ASK . . .Why Should I Get to Know My Grandparents?

A Source of Wisdom and Advice

Many young people have discovered that grandparents can serve as a shelter during the stormy years of youth.  Seventeen magazine observed:  "With decades of experience in living, they are often more helpful in dealing with problems than friends your age, who are struggling with the same concerns you are.  You and your peers are in the throes of your first life transitions; your grandparents have weathered many such passages.   They are often wise as well as smart."  This advice merely echoes what the Bible said centuries ago, namely:  "Gray-headedness is a crown of beauty when it is found int he way of righteousness." -Proverbs 16:31.  

True, your grandparents may have grown up in a world quite different from the one in which you live now. But you can be sure that at one time or another, they  have felt  the very same feelings that you are struggling with now. While you may still be relatively inexperienced in handling such feelings, your grandparents have had a lifetime in which to come to terms with them.  (Proverbs 1:4)  "Is there not wisdom among the aged  and understanding in the length of days?"  asked the righteous man Job.  (Job 12:12)  Yes, and for that reason grandparents can often be a real asset when a youth needs some balanced advice, encouragement, or support.

Young Damaris's grandmother, for example, lived with Damaris and her mother in the same urban apartment.  "When my mother and I had trouble communicating," Damaris recalled, "Grandmom helped us work things out. She would show me a different way of looking at things." 

Next time: YOUNG PEOPLE ASK . . .Why Should I Get to Know My Grandparents?/ Conclusion of A Source of Wisdom and Advice

From the Awake! magazine