This Mother’s Day I get to enjoy a completely new aspect of
motherhood—being a grandmother! My sweet
granddaughter, Adelyn (pictured), is only two months old, and already she’s
become a reason to stop in the baby section of every store I enter, a regular
source of smiles and sighs, and a constant topic of conversation. Woe to anyone who asks if I have any new
photos!
Something very interesting has happened as I have watched my
daughter and son-in-law parent this precious baby. So much of what they know, how they process,
and what they do is completely foreign to me!
I mean, babies are babies, right?
So how much about taking care of an infant can truly be different than
it was back in the Eighties? Well, a
whole heck of a lot, I’m here to tell you!
From the birth plan, to nursing, to diapers, to sleep
schedules, to the involvement of the daddy, to just about EVERYTHING—I feel
like I’m in a whole new world of baby care. When my mother found out I was
going to be a grandmother, I remember her warning, “The hardest thing is
keeping your mouth shut because you want to tell them how to do
everything!” At the time, I wondered if
this would be true.
In an essay by Andrew F. Walls entitled The Gospel as the Prisoner and Liberator of Culture, Walls
suggests, “No group of Christians has therefore any right to impose in the name
of Christ upon another group of Christians a set of assumptions about life
determined by another time and place.”
Walls’ essay points out the vast cultural differences
Christianity has embodied over the course of history and how each progression
caused those going before concern that it wasn’t being “done” correctly. Consider the angst the Sabbath-keeping,
Torah-reading, ritual-keeping, circumcising Jews felt when their faith was
invaded by Gentiles who held none of these things as sacred. Yet Paul clearly stated in Galatians 3 that
God declared the Gentiles righteous because of their faith, even though their faith did not look like what the Jews were
used to. Should we be surprised that
Christianity continues to struggle as each new generation works out their own
faith in their own culture?
I’m happy to say I haven’t had to battle with myself over
giving unwanted advice to my daughter and son-in-law. The fact is, I’m happy not to have the responsibility
this time around, and I think they’re pretty amazing parents. Will they make mistakes? Sure – all parents do. It’s part of the growth process. However, if their decisions are informed and
made with an unselfish heart for the one they love, they don’t have to be the
same as mine were.
I wonder what would happen if each generation of Christians
gave this same latitude to the next generation to come so that the wisdom
passed down from generation to generation might also be found in the silence of
acceptance and grace.
Tami Cinquemani
Adelyn is beautiful !
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