God of our Living Saints,
May we celebrate the grandparents among us and the ones who have passed on.
With gratitude, we acknowledge the love they shared with us-
From the dinners cooked to the trips taken.
We bless the grandparents who are taking on extra duties-
Sitting with children learning lessons and sharing their homes with children whose parents aren’t around.
We pray for their energy as they work hard imparting wisdom, and we ask for your healing love to sustain them as they continue to grow older.
We thank you also for the bonus grandparents among us: the step-grandparents, the great-aunts and uncles, and the ones who have filled the roles of grandparents for us. May they know what impact they have made on our lives.
God of the autumn harvest, bless the fruits of these relationships, that they may multiply and we keep these memories with us forever.
Amen.
Thanks for including those others — I celebrate my Tante Helene (Great Aunt Helen), who could be the grandmother for me that her wounded sister could not be. Unmarried and without children of her own she was the joy in my life.