Grandparents’ Day arrives next Sunday. A few churches in this country will take time to honor the “elders” of our families, as they should. There are some, especially worthy of honor, whose names appear on God’s Grandparents’ Honor Roll.

These are those who take seriously God’s command to Moses reminding parents or grandparents to carefully guard their own lives and to observe all that God had commanded so that their children and grandchildren would know and fear the Lord, and learn to love Him with their whole being.(Deut. 4-6) They live their lives for the next generation, not daring to ignore them or treat them as unimportant because they are only children. They know children are important NOW – a precious treasure, and like God, are zealous that none be lost.

I am thankful for parents, grandparents, and “spiritual grandparents” who took God’s mandate seriously and lived as vessels of God’s grace in my life as a child, and many others who grew up as wholehearted followers of Christ. Grandparents’ Day is an appropriate time to honor those “grandparents” who spend themselves in such a way that all the children in their sphere of influence will know they are loved, valued and precious in God’s sight.

My personal “Grandparents” Honor Roll includes my childhood pastor, Dr. George White, and his wife, Helen, because they truly saw children as a precious treasure. Protecting this precious treasure for Christ was their highest priority, and they enlisted others who shared their passion. Oh, for more pastors whose hearts resonate with God’s heart for the children!

Here’s my Honor Roll. You probably won’t know any of these names. They weren’t famous. They were ordinary people with an extraordinary love for children. Most of them are gone now, but their lives served as conduits of God’s grace and love by which scores of young lives entered the Kingdom to wholeheartedly serve the King!

Make your own Honor Roll of “grandparents” who loved and valued you as a child. Find a way to honor them this Grandparents’ Day. Perhaps it is a good time to ask whether your name will appear on God’s Grandparents’ Honor Roll listing those who spent their lives that none of these little ones should be lost.