“It takes a little time sometimes

To get your feet back on the ground

It takes a little time sometimes

To get the Titanic turned back around

It takes a little time sometimes

But baby, you’re not going down

It takes more than you’ve got right now

Give it, give it time”

(from “Takes a Little Time” on Behind the Eyes, © Amy Grant, 1997)

What if you’re a grandparent and you recognize the need to incorporate listening to Scripture (“The Best Rest Time”), but you missed that time with your children and don’t know where to start for your grandchildren?

While I’m not a grandparent yet, I have had experience with giving “spiritual gifts” in many ways — and have spent time helping grandparents pray and invest in their families.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as purchasing an audio Scripture set (and if apropos, a CD player to go with it), praying over your gift and gifting it to your children for your grandchildren – or straight to your grandchildren.

Sweetness Prepares the Way

What I’ve found with spiritual gifts – and by “spiritual gifts,” I’m referring to Bibles, audio Bibles, and there are a few other tangibles that fall in that category – is that they’re often “sweetened” by including a physical gift. For example, I have received a word of the Lord for various people, including teenagers, through the years. That is also a spiritual gift.

Most people expect a physical gift, such as money or tangibles. Obviously, a spiritual gift has greater weight, measure and eternally significant impact. However, if a person does not receive it, it has zero impact.

For most of the teenagers, I included money in the card with the words the Lord gave me for them. Other times, I prayed: 1. over the gift and 2. for the person to be prepared to receive it together with a 3. card that shared about the gift and the heart for it sufficed. For children, I often included some type of candy and something colorful, like balloons or stickers.

In fact, it’s a biblical principle to associate sweetness to Scripture. Ezekiel spoke of the scroll he ate tasting as sweet as honey (Ezekiel 3:3). Proverbs 24:13-14 speaks of wisdom being compared to the sweetness of honey. Rabbis wrote Scripture on slates the first day of school, had the children repeat the words, reminded them of Ezekiel, then invited them to lick the honey off the slate (https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2634/ Sweetness of Learning” by Dr. Marvin Wilson).

My point is that associating physical sweetness to a spiritual gift helps the person come into an open-hearted stance in which they can receive the gift. And, receiving is the point!

Gift Anointed by Prayer

Prayer prepares the way. The gift is anointed as you pray over it. One time, I received a gift in the mail across nations. When I opened it, love literally poured out of it and embraced me. My friend poured love and intention into the gift which she made, and it imprinted in the physical gift as a battery. Yes, a battery will run out eventually, but the memory of the jolt of love I felt remains.

Prayer Prep the Person to Receive

Prayer prepares the person to receive. I have poured physically into strategic gifts I’ve made for people. After a few epic fails, I learned to pray that they would be prepared to receive the gift, and that the time, place, space, dimension, communication, all, would be prepared and nurtured by Father for them to receive and respond. That prayer prep changed everything on the gifting.

Time to Redeem

What if the situation with your children and grandchildren doesn’t make it as simple as praying and giving?

. . .to be continued.

written by Crystal Wade, © 2025

image created by AI