God the Good Grandpa

If you who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him!" MATTHEW 7:11


What a burden of sorrow some grandparents carry for their children and grand-children. They raise their kids to be faithful Catholics. Then, somewhere along the way, the kids lose their faith and stop going to church. Even when the kids get married and start having kids of their own, they don't include religion in family life. The grandchildren don't get baptized and grand- parents are at a loss as to what to do.
The problem is not that we've been bad parents. God knows we've all done our very best. We know how to be good parents. But can we be better parents to our kids than God is to them? There's the catch. We're pretty confident in our own parenting skills, but we don't seem to trust God's.
The fact of the matter is that God is a far better parent than we can ever hope to be. And God has the situation well in hand. God promised to watch over our kids and lead them to salvation. We're called to put our trust in God's faithfulness to fulfill this promise, not necessarily in our kids' ability to fulfill our expectations. That's why we have a heavenly Father, so that when our human weakness kicks in, we have the divine presence to bail us out.