A Letter To My Great-Grandchild

1pm

The anomaly of the title of this blog is that I don’t yet have grandchildren, so why would I be writing to my ‘great’ grandchild? I woke up this morning and had a time of prayer including praying for my children and their children and their children’s children. As I did so, I pondered what I would say to them…and that got me started on thinking of writing a letter both to my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren.

I always get a little emotional when I consider this, because I am reminded that somewhere in my past generations –  there have been ancestors that prayed for me. I am the fruit of their prayers. I am now the prayer link between them and the generations to come. I carry the prayer baton and have the honour of bringing to God the not-yet-seen souls that God has ordained to one day walk this earth.

And so I pray for them and if I were to write to them, this is what I would say,

“To my dear Great Grandchild. How happy I am that you get to read this. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I come to you from the year 2014, (which may be about 50 years ago!). My name is Helga and I am your great-grandmother! My husband (your great granddad) is Mike & right now, we are about to celebrate out 28th wedding anniversary. I am 3 months shy of turning 50 and Mike is 63. I hope to get to meet you, but I’m pretty sure Mike will be in heaven by the time you arrive! Our oldest family photograph is this one…it contains Mike’s ancestors…

Mike’s Ancestors – I think his father is one of the children, his grandfather one of the young men and his great grandfather seated left

This photo is, I think of Mike’s grandfather and great – grand father….so that’s your great great grand father and great great great grandfather…

I don’t know who your parents are, because they have not yet been born! 😀 Your grandparents may be Stacey and Adrian – Stacey is our daughter, born 4th December 1987 and is married to Adrian – they’ve just celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. They haven’t yet started a family but that should happen in the next few years! Who knows, maybe that first baby will be your mother or father! Or perhaps your grandfather is David. He was born on 1st March 1991 and is still single, so your mom/dad don’t  feature even vaguely on his horizon.

David (L) and Adrian playing chess

And this is Stacey…

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? You’re made up of bits of  the generations that have gone before. I have hazel eyes and  straight dark brown hair. Mike had ginger hair when he was younger (but I’m glad to say that he didn’t have a fiery temper to go with it)! He has green eyes. Both Stacey and David have blue eyes and Adrian has green eyes as well. Stacey has the same straight dark brown hair that I have. David has thick light brown hair. When he was younger, he was blonde. Your great great grandparents (Grandpa’s parents) both had blue eyes. My Dad had blue eyes and my Mom hazel eyes….that’s where I get them from.

Now let me tell you about our skill sets. This you will find interesting, because there is a large variety of talents in our family and you probably will have some of them. Numbers and words feature highly in great grandpa and I. Mike is a numbers man. He is highly technical and creative. He studied Land Surveying at university. He has written multiple numbers of computer programmes. He’s creative, musical, great at art and an excellent all round handyman and carpenter. I meantime, am a words girl. I love to write & socialise! 🙂 I am an eternal optimist and generally am easing going and very happy. I know I get many of my personality traits from my Mom. Here she is on her wedding day…(1956) so this is your great, great grandmom & dad….

My Dad & Mom on their wedding day – 1956

Stacey and Adrian are both highly technical. Stacey is an engineer (she did mechatronics at university), while Adrian is a Linux expert. Stacey also has an ear for music and multiple talents in all sorts of areas. She sews, bakes, knits and does cross-stitch. She’s not afraid of experimenting and never giving up. David is more on the arty side. He’s made music his career – studying Western Classical performance in guitar. He’s more social, like me, but he looks more like his Dad. All three play chess and are good at it! So if you have any of those skills coming up in your life, you’ll have an idea of where you get them from!

I think the thing that strikes me the most in writing to you is that the kind of world that you have been born into is very different from the one I come from. And that has always been at the forefront of my mind as I pray for you. For us the passing of time begins at birth and ends at death, but for God, it is eternal. As He is with me in 2014, He can see you in the year you are living. God is overall. He is beyond time. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows all your issues, even now decades before they arrive. He has laid it on my heart to pray for you. My biggest prayer for you has been two-fold. Firstly, I have prayed that you will come to know Jesus at a very young age and follow Him all the days of your life. Secondly, I have prayed that you will impact your world for Him. You will make your mark and He will be glorified.

The most significant thing I want you to know is that God loves you. He always has and always will. I also want you to know that the Bible is true. Read it, follow what it says and it will go well with you. A Bible verse I have learnt off by heart and have carried with me all the days of my life is Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge God and He will make your paths straight.

I’ve experienced that over and over again.

There’s a lot more to tell you and to show you, but that, perhaps, is for another day….or another person!

God bless you my sweet child.  You are in His Grip.

With eternal love,

Your Great Grandmother Helga”

Gratitude Pic…

Back L-R Mike, David, Adrian, My Dad,
Front L-R Me, Mike’s Mom, Stacey and My Step Mom