“God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them…” Genesis 1:27

The late Frank McCourt’s prize winning novel, Angela’s Ashes, is the story of his own childhood in both New York and Ireland. Young Frankie’s life is riddled with conflict and confusion about the worth of a Limerick City Irish Catholic boy who found few reasons for hope as a poor, destitute outsider. Not even the Church wanted anything to do with him.

It may be difficult for many of us to imagine the harsh conditions described in Angela’s Ashes. Yet, there are still millions of Frankies in the world growing up without any sense of dignity or worth. No one has shared with them the glorious truth of the Imago Deo (image of God).

It is imperative that we tell each of our grandchildren the truth about their being created in the image of God, that they are His beloved children, and as such have been lavished with great value and purpose by the One who made them, and that no circumstance or condition can diminish that value. The Gospel is about God’s relentless pursuit of his lost children because they are all of such immeasurable value to Him. There is no greater dignity. It is a dignity rooted in who we are, not what we do.

FANNING THE FLAME

I encourage you to visit our Resource page (www.christiangrandparenting.net) and scroll down to the article on Writing a Blessing for some suggestions to help develop a regular process of speaking blessing into the lives of your children and grandchildren. The more we learn to genuinely speak blessing into these young lives, the more they will grow up understanding the dignity of being created in God’s image.

GRANDPAUSE: “We must build a new world, a far better world — one in which the eternal DIGNITY of man is respected.” — Harry S. Truman