A Time of Reflection

FACE TO FACE

Pat Cirrincione

It was April 10, 2011. The call came in around nine in the evening. “Mom and Dad, Lindsay’s just gone into labor. Can you meet us at the hospital?” And just like that it began: hours of labor, future parents (my son and daughter-in-law) and grandparents (my husband and I) waiting for their first child and our first grandchild to be born.

What an evening as first we sat, then we paced, then we got to go and visit our son and his wife for a few minutes. Then more hours of sitting, drinking hospital coffee, dozing off and then our son was standing there telling us that we had a ten-pound granddaughter. We sat in shocked amazement. A granddaughter? Don’t you mean a grandson? Didn’t all the crazy tests you had been doing for nine months indicate that a boy was to be born? Are you sure it’s a girl?

“Yep! It’s a girl” our son told us, and then I was racing into the delivery room to see her. What a sight! Red faced, and howling, “How dare you take me from the warmth of the womb into this cold world!” She was not happy. Our son looked at his wife, then at his daughter screaming in his arms and then he did one of the most amazing things—he came over to me and placed this beautiful, red-faced, screaming little bundle of life into my arms, and I fell totally in love.

I remember taking her to a quiet corner of the room and speaking softly to her, telling her who I was and that I would love her all of my life; that I would be her Nana, and she would be my special number one granddaughter; and that I would be there for her always. What a moment of pure love and joy. What a wonderful gift from God. And so it began, and it was now April 11, 2011.

How do you thank God for the gift of new life, a new beginning, a new face in the Creator’s world. It’s a pretty strong feeling, and if you thought your prayers were going up during the pregnancy, that all would turn out healthy and well, it is nothing like your prayers every day for this new human being. You pray for their health, their welfare, that they won’t be bullied once they begin school, that they won’t be the bully, that they will come to know the Lord and rely on him, that he will make them strong and courageous as life comes at them with all of its challenges.

Since that day, nine years ago, we have been blessed with three more granddaughters. As we look at them, laugh with them, go to their christenings, birthday parties and school functions, we wonder what they will do with their lives. Will they become doctors, lawyers, teachers, race car drivers, Olympic champions in soccer or baseball, missionaries who carry out the Lord’s commission and spread the word of the gospel to some far corner of the world? Will they be courteous and well mannered? Will they place God front and center in their lives? So many questions, and no answers at these early stages. We do see kindness in their hearts already and love for their family and delight at family gatherings as they play with their cousins, laugh and joke around with each other. Again, we are still in the early stages of their lives and wonder what God will decide for them.

Several years ago, a friend began the Nana Prayer Group. This is what we do for our grandchildren, children and family members. Every other week we get together and put our prayer requests before the Lord. Some of the things we pray for are as simple as my oldest granddaughter wanting her bad dreams to go away. We pray for their health, their daily lives in their school environments, their injuries from playing sports, their growth formation of body and mind, their capacity to love one another, the bullying they might encounter in school, people who are mean to them, their dreams for their lives and how God will help them to handle their disappointments through the help of the Holy Spirit, their willingness to accept the Lord as their Savior. The list goes on and on and on, for their spiritual welfare, for their ability to get along with their siblings, for their safety once they take off for college, and we nanas pray for each other to retain our hair color through it all.

We have always lived in an uncertain world, but no one could have anticipated what we are presently experiencing, and even in the worst of times, it always amazes me that life goes on, and children are born each day. In February we welcomed our fourth granddaughter into the world. She was actually due on March 24, hence, I call her our miracle baby. She arrived a month early, before the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders went into effect. God was kind to us as he allowed us to be at her birth and enjoy the warmth of holding her in our arms before our doors were closed to visiting each other.

Technology allows us to FaceTime with our children and grandchildren, but nothing can replace a hug or real human touch. Yet there is still joy when we can drive by and wave to them all through our car windows, when I place plastic Easter eggs on their front lawns, scurry back to our car and enjoy their glee as they find the eggs I scattered in trees, grass and bushes. When we put Happy Birthday signs on our car windows and beep the car horn to the birthday song. God is good. He knew how life for His creation was going to be before this happened. No one could have anticipated this, and maybe God is giving us this time to see the extremes in our own nature, both good and bad.

I quote Dr. David Jeremiah, in his book The Book of Signs, page 320: “Churches and godly homes are battle stations from which prayers emanate in a vast communication network that connects both fronts. As prayer warriors, we often turn the tide of human events. Someone has said, ‘It’s not the players that make the world go ‘round, it’s the pray-ers.’”

The book of James speaks of trials and tribulations—all people will have them in this broken world. God promises to hold onto us until all the hard times are done.

We know we are blessed. We know that the Lord has been kind to us. We know that the Lord has honored, loved and blessed us with the people in our lives. So, let’s stay strong and courageous. Our children and grandchildren need us to pray for them to let them know that real security can be found only in God. Let us continue to love one another and keep praying.

We have the opportunity, right now, to witness to the world in our circumstances as we get down on our knees and beg our Almighty God for deliverance from the bad times we are all going through at this moment and all the other moments when we forget that he is in charge, not us.