Understanding Love
I used to think that antique stores were for rich people, but after we moved into this old house, I got brave and started going inside. Now I know which ones have pretty old plates for two dollars and little wooden shelves for four. I have a few favorites and their owners have become friends.
Last week I went into my favorite shop in nearby Cookeville. This little handmade rug is one my finds from that visit. I like it better than a new one.
As always, I enjoyed visiting with the shop’s owner, whom I’ll call Marilyn. We have both shared joys and sorrows during the ten years we have chatted among her vintage linens, dishes, and furniture. Last week Marilyn was bubbling over with happy stories about her first and only grandchild. She couldn’t stop talking about her, and  I didn’t want her to stop.
Marilyn was particularly excited last week because the baby and her parents were coming home for the 4th of July weekend. While I shopped, one of Marilyn’s other daughters arrived to take her mother’s place for the rest of the afternoon so that Marilyn could get home to prepare for their celebration and for the observance of the little one’s first birthday. This baby not only has a devoted and excited grandmother; she has a devoted and excited aunt, too. Almost immediately she shared a sweet baby story that her mom had just told me.
Marilyn’s granddaughter and her parents live more than three hours away from Cookeville. When her granddaughter was born, Marilyn told her daughter that she and grandpa would be happy to go there to babysit. Marilyn’s daughter asked, “Really? You would do that?”
Marilyn explained why her daughter said that. She said that our children just don’t understand how much we love our grandchildren. She said that they won’t know the love of a grandparent for a grandchild until they are grandparents themselves.
Marilyn is right. Some things we just don’t understand until we live them. To understand how a grandparent loves, you have to be one.
Marilyn and her husband have followed through on the sentiment expressed when their granddaughter was born. They do make the three-plus hour drive to babysit their granddaughter. They have even done that for a dental appointment.
I am reminded of what God did to let us know how much He loves us. He became one of us. God made us, so He certainly didn’t have to become one of us to understand what we were like. However, we needed for Him to experience what we experience so that we would know that He understands what our lives are like and so we would understand what His love is like.
I have heard two discussions about grandparent love in the last few days. On Sunday morning when our preacher was trying to explain God’s love for us, he said that God loves us even more than we love our grandchildren. Wow, that’s a lot.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John 1:14