"Grannie Ellies" Make a Difference . . . So Do People Grandparents!

Last winter I posted about an article which had been "floating around" the internet where it talked about elephant grandmas and wanted to share it with you again today. Apparently research showed baby elephants are more likely to survive if there is a grandma elephant in their herd. Newsweek Tech and Science reported on this; they said - "Turns out grannies are very important to baby ellies. New research conducted over four decades in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park shows female elephants with a living mother have better chances at reproduction and give birth to babies more likely to survive." They studied 3,000 elephants in Southern Kenya for 42 years and discovered, “having an experienced mother, one who knows how to respond to their calf's demands and how to keep them close by, makes a huge difference in whether a baby elephant survives—having a grandma adds much needed extra help.”

Our grandchildren definitely benefit from having grandmas - "experienced" moms - active in their lives, too! And, unlike with elephants, where they do not have the involvement of grandpas with the little ones, our grandchildren benefit greatly from the involvement of their grandpas as well!

We grandparents have a very important, and essential role to play with our grandchildren - a Biblical role to pass on a heritage of faith. Yes, we can provide physical help with grandchildren, which is valuable, but the spiritual help, spiritual involvement, and spiritual investment is priceless!

Of all the things you do with your grandchildren, which do you think is the most valuable use of your time? My husband and I pray Scripture each week for our grandsons - they pray with us on Saturdays (they usually have a sleepover on Friday) and give us prayer requests to pray for them in the coming week - which we talk about how God is answering our prayers on Saturdays, too. I love when they get to see/hear us pray Scripture for them - and get to pray with us!