My Heart Smiles

Do you know what makes my heart smile? Watching my parents love my kids. Listening to them laugh with them, read stories to them, talk with them, and encourage them.

A couple of times a year, they leave their home in Michigan at 4:00 am and drive 12 and a half hours to get to our home in North Carolina. They usually arrive in time for dinner on Friday and turn around and head home again by Tuesday morning. It's a short visit. Nothing much planned for the visits. Just time to be together. 

A long road trip for a short visit to see and play with and talk to their grand kids. That's a sacrifice of time that makes my heart smile.

They come bearing gifts - simple gifts, but special gifts. They come ready to engage - to wrestle, play games, read books, do puzzles, enjoy walks, be together. They come ready to give - their time, their energy, their interest, their love. They come willing to work - to serve, to clean, to cook, to assemble, to counsel, to encourage. 

And all of this makes my heart smile.

Do you know what else makes my heart smile? Feeling genuine support from my parents for Grady and I. Listening to them affirm us, hearing them pray for us, seeing them get excited with us, and watching them step out of a parenting role and into an advising role.

They ask questions about us and listen to our answers. But they ask without prying and they listen without judging. 

Family is a blessing. Godly parents are a blessing. Intentional grandparents are a blessing.

And that makes my heart smile.