Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids?

Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids?

Posted on by Michele Morin

When my sons were small, I kept a running list of their funny sayings in my journal or in the memory books I kept for each of them. Many of the most amusing or surprising were questions:
“What’s inside my tongue?”
“Did Moses watch tv?”
“Does Penny (our dog) pray?”

They kept me on my toes, but I never minded, because their questions revealed an active mind and a genuine interaction with the world around them.

Scripture is fully in favor of kids asking questions! In fact, Joshua, Israel’s leader during their era of conquest, told the people to place a pile of stones in the Jordan River as they crossed into the Promised Land.

And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood…” (Joshua 4:9)

He knew that the children of future generations would ask about the stone piles, and he wanted their parents to use that opportunity to tell the story of God miraculously parting the waters so they could walk through in safety (Joshua 4:6-7).

So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

Joshua has this grandmother’s attention, and I’m asking myself an important question:

Am I leaving piles of stones for my grandchildren?
Is there anything about my life, my habits, or my words that would inspire God-oriented questions in my grandchildren’s minds? That’s a sobering thought for this grandmother of eight inquisitive souls, because questions serve as door-openers to the kinds of conversations I want to have.

Is there anything about my life, my habits, or my words that would inspire God-oriented questions in my children’s or grandchildren’s minds?

When stone-pile questions arise, grandparents have the privilege of explaining important matters of faith. Stone-pile questions are an invitation to influence and shape the thinking of our grandchildren. If something about my life triggers a meaningful question, that question may open the door to a valuable conversation about God and His Word.

Let the Stone-Pile Questions Begin!

How can we keep the door wide open in our unique relationships with our kids and grandkids? I have a few thoughts:

Be sure that the Word of God is part of your everyday experience. You can’t give what you don’t have. Your life won’t point to something you’re not actively chasing. You don’t have to go to seminary or wear out a box of colored pencils in your Bible study habits. You simply have to let God’s thoughts shape your thoughts—and you will find his thoughts between the covers of your Bible.

Talk to God about everything. If you are in regular conversation with someone, that someone is likely to show up in your conversations with others. If God is that Someone, you can report to your grandchildren the content of those conversations you’re having with him—even when (maybe especially when) we don’t yet understand what he’s saying.

Listen when your grandkids are talking. Be a safe person for them to talk to. Often, their own words about what’s troubling them or giving them joy can be an onramp to a stone-pile story from your own life about how God met a need or offered comfort.

Introduce your grandkids to your music, your reading, and other aspects of your intellectual life. In age-appropriate ways, give them access to the influences that have shaped your worldview. Make recommendations of what’s good and admit to your poor choices. Allow yourself to be a three-dimensional person to your grandkids and not just a flat, cardboard cutout.

Pray for wisdom and opportunities. I have a feeling that I’ve missed opportunities to speak truth into my kids’ and grandkids’ lives simply by being too busy or too distracted by the idea that I should be multitasking. And I know for sure that sometimes my own words have fallen flat and have sounded trite and ineffective even to my own ears. Grandmothers are grace-dependent creatures all our lives. We need godly wisdom to fill us with stone-pile words.

And let Joshua’s words be a challenge to you to keep praying for wisdom and opportunities:

When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them…”

What are you doing to pile stones of remembrance in the path of your grandkids?

Holding You in the Light,

Let Joshua’s words be a challenge to you: “When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them…” What are you doing to pile stones of remembrance in the path of your grandkids?

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four married sons and a growing fleet of adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

30 thoughts on “Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids?”

  1. As Hubs and I sit by the fire waiting for sunrise, expecting today might be challenging – snow mixed with sleet flying sideways outside. We are anticipating loss of power because of ice. All that is to say, reading your words about sharing stone moments with the youngers I had to sum it up in my head. Of course. 

    Being a young mom, you spend most of your time in a frenzy of basic life skill lessons combined with as much prepping the next stage of growing up. You have to be agile to find ways to insert the higher lessons of faith and Biblical history using tools like books written for kids. 

    But when you are a grandparent most of the mechanics of raising good people is left to the parents so you can do interesting creative things that plant good seeds in less bullet point ways. I can claim to have been very blessed to have been muchly involved with all seven of my grands – even now as they are grown and we can have serious discussions on deep subjects, like what is our grand purpose – serving our Savior. 

    But now I am losing ground and feel as though I am officially on borrowed time – I am not likely to have that kind of relationship with my great grands – two as of now.  I did what I am still able to do though – I trust their parents will carry on and I pass the grandmother torch to my daughter. She is so on it!

    And maybe they will get a chance to hear my lyrics one day.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I hope you didn’t lose your power!
      We still have it. For now…
      With eight grands, I’m seeing a big difference in the amount of time I spent with the two or three oldest compared with the late comers. And it hooks an urgency in me to find ways to connect with these tiny people.

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  2. Lovely encouragement, Michele!

    Linda MacKillop/Author lindamackillop.com https://lindamackillop.com/ Substack: The Backstory https://lindamackillop.substack.com/

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  3. Good analogy – like that idea and comparison of the stone piles.
    It is different as the grandparent vs. the parent for all those things mentioned. I find us in the in-between stage because of babysitting one grand, and the other not near. Getting to just be the grandparent gets mixed in with the babysitter. Interesting place to be. Still, playing the Christian kid songs in with the other kid stuff does make a difference. Hearing the toddler suddenly break out in a loud rendition of “This Little Light of Mine” out of nowhere since it hadn’t been played in months was a reward in itself. Prayerfully, the little drips will make big ponds in their life and the questions will come in time.
    ~ Rosie

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    1. We were reading the story of the Jordan crossing for our morning devotions, and that’s when it hit me. “Am I leaving any piles of stones…?” It sounds as if you are in the trenches of routine childcare with one of your grands which comes with its own challenges while wishing you had MORE time with the one far away.
      I recently heard someone say that there are two kinds of grandmothers: the lonely ones and the exhausted ones. Sounds like you get to be both!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Oh there’s no doubt in my mind on what an excellent, effective, fabulous grandma you are and how well you share Jesus and His ways with your gang. How blessed you are to have them close enough so you can do life together and not from afar.

    May God give you all the stamina, patience, and glee you need as you walk with your family in this precious season.

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  7. Many of my blog posts and stories are from the wonderful and hilarious and thought-provoking comments from our grandchildren. I’m thankful to be their “Mimi”. My husband is “Bop”. We love learning from and teaching our grands. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I’ve had many wonderful faith conversations with our kids over the years as they were growing up, and that is a big part of the reason we homeschooled – so that we were doing life with our kids present, and so that we were available to have those conversations. There’s not as much opportunity with our grands since we don’t see them as often, but I hope they ask me (and their parents) the same kinds of questions that lead to opportunities to grow their faith. (We are Nonny and Poppy to the grands)

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  9. My saintly grandmother taught me another way to pile those stones: through writing. She was so faithful to write letters to her nine grandchildren. She always included a Bible verse at the end. After her death, one of my cousins, who’d been rebelling against God, took out the letters Grandma had written him. (How amazing that he’d saved them!) He looked up every scripture and long-story-short, returned to God with new-found passion and energy. He became a pastor. / I’ve not written that many letters in this day of texting, but I have journals and blog posts that God may use one day to minister to our grandchildren, even after I’m gone.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, may God use the words we leave behind for his glory! Until Parkinson’s wrecked my handwriting, I was keeping a journal of thoughts for each of my four sons. I suppose I could continue the practice by typing something, but haven’t transitioned to that, so I’m going to give them their little books when they get the photos.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. I love this so much, Michele! Our oldest grandchild just turned four and she is beginning to ask such wonderful questions. I love the imagery of a stone-pile and how such questions can build upon each other, providing what I can to contribute to a foundation of faith in. my grandkids. I’m always reminded of the phrase, “Children don’t do what you say, they do what they see.” as well as the quote my dad always recited, “Walk the walk!” If we want t encourage lives of faith within our Littles (our grandkids) we must set the example and it’s a true privilege to be able to do so!

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    1. Yes, it really IS a great privilege to carry this responsibility, and it’s wonderful that God stands ready to enable and strengthen us with resolve and wisdom to fulfill the reponsibility.

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  11. I remember when I first read about the stones of remembrance in the OT. It struck so deeply. The past six months or so, I have been learning to ask the questions of my elders before they no longer are able to respond and share with me. The conversations have been delightfully meaningful. And I have no doubt your conversations with your littles are precious. May the Lord continue to provide many opportunities with each one of them!

    Liked by 1 person

  12. […] Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids? “Let Joshua’s words be a challenge to you: ‘When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them…’ What are you doing to pile stones of remembrance in the path of your grandkids?” […]

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  13. Michele, I don’t have grandchildren yet, but I’m encouraged and inspired by your guidance here. I’m sure I’ve missed many opportunities to add to the stone piles for my daughters, but I’m thankful that today is a new day with additional opportunities.

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