Crown and Pride

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

CROWN AND PRIDE

Prov 17:6

6 Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

NIV

It is a great joy to see the children of children, to be great-grandparents certainly does well as a crown in our oldest years. But this truth runs much deeper than simply being grandparents. There is a family relationship shown here that should exist within all the families of God. Whoever is the family patriarch and matriarch bear a great burden of leading their families in the ways of the Lord. They should be respected by those descendants, both living and the ones born after they are gone. There should be such a heritage left by them, one like Abraham left for his descendants, one of following God, trusting God, obeying God, no matter the cost. We aged should hope that our children and their children can say of us, “There was a person after God’s own heart”, as God said about David. Our descendants should be pride to claim they are ours, speaking well of us after we have left this earth for paradise. There is a receptacle relationship that must exist in the families who follow the ways of God. A sense of pride in each other, a respect for each other, a love for each other that goes beyond self. What a joy to watch children and their children grow into a child of God. But there can be pain along the way if the children tend to stray. It can be painful to watch them endeavor to travel their own path, and not respect the views of their parents or grand-parents. Yet love must always prevail. It is our hope and our prayers they will return to the fold of God, if they have strayed. Still they are our crown, and we are their pride.