Through Every Generation
The Voice of Zion October 2026 - Home and Family articles --
God’s perfect plan for our lives unfurls around us. From the finely tuned stages of growth to the motion of the cosmos, we see His handiwork. His dexterity is also evident in the shape of the human lifecycle. Nearly every creature on earth bears young from the moment they mature to the moment they die. Some produce the next generation one time as their final act, such as the mayfly and the octopus. But God made humans different in at least two fundamental ways: He made us a living soul, and He limited our season for bearing and rearing young to a few decades in the middle of the “threescore and ten years” the psalmist gives as the expected human lifespan.
However, the job of bringing up the next generation does not stop when child-bearing years have ended. Grandparents play a vital role in the lives of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They support the family in material ways even when they need support themselves. They are a bright spot in childhood memories and serve as a sounding board for parents who are muddling their way through raising teenagers. They provide stability and a long-term perspective, and bring patience and wisdom born of hard-won experience.
Parents usually do the heavy lifting of childrearing. This means that grandparents often fill the role of being the fun ones and their presence often brings a break from the usual family rhythms. Their stories, jokes, games and banter help lighten the mood and add sparkle to the atmosphere. Such light relief is crucial for maintaining the health of a family and home. In other situations, grandparents may be called forward to fill the role of a parent for their grandchildren when parents are unable to do so.
As they age, grandparents grow to need additional support themselves. Family dynamics shift as new challenges and frustrations emerge. As everyone adjusts to a new reality, fresh stresses appear, tempers wear thin and sparks may fly. But even when a grandparent is physically or mentally incapacitated, God’s commandment to honor them still stands. The need for respect, empathy, love and the gospel never diminishes.
Above all, believing grandparents can share the gospel with their children, grandchildren and others in the home. They set a powerful example for how to be a believer in the world, in the congregation, and in the home. They demonstrate how to age as a believer, showing that the thirst for forgiveness of sins does not fade as years go by. Many a childhood involves memories of grandparents carrying forward family traditions, such as reading the Christmas gospel, singing songs and hymns of Zion, preaching the gospel and discussing the way and journey of faith. Here, believers from Toronto share thoughts, experiences and memories of grandparenthood and living in multi-generational homes.
Four Changing Generations, One Unchanging Word
Courtney Mikkola
This summer, we were able to visit family and stand with four living generations all together; not once, but twice over the span of only a few days. We began in Bradford, Ontario, where we spent time with my husband’s parents and grandfather, who is 95 years old. There, we gathered our four children around their great-grandfather for a photo: four generations of our family standing together in one place.
A few days later, we found ourselves in Ishpeming, Michigan, visiting my parents and grandfather, who is 91. There, we took another four-generation photo.
Visiting with grandparents and great-grandparents is a special blessing. We talked about the joys and struggles of believing and heard many stories about the old days. The kids were able to experience how life 80–90 years ago was so different to today. They marveled that Great-Grandpa Dan’s house was built by their great-great-grandfather! But most importantly, we could preach the gospel to each other.
Our grandparents have lived a long life and have been through lots of changes over the years. But they remind us God’s Word is unchanging: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). It is comforting to hear this from men who have lived over nine decades through the same struggles of believing and life as we do today. And still today they turn to the same source of comfort as they did years ago: the living Word of God and the forgiveness of sins.
From Each Generation On
Multigeneration Family Life Enriches, Encourages and Edifies
Elisa Laikola
This past summer, I found the book of poems, Aina uutena nouseva päivä (Always a New Day Rising), that Kaino Pentikainen, my Finnish grandmother, wrote after she retired. One poem especially evokes uplifting thoughts:
Olemme kukin aikanamme
renkaana sukupolvien ketjussa.
Arjen keskellä ihmisinä,
mutta taivastoivoa rinnassamme kantaen.
Each of us exists in our own moment,
as a link in the chain of generations,
living everyday life as an everyday person,
but holding the hope of heaven in our hearts.*
The “circle of life” and the different stages we experience in our lifetime are frequent topics of conversation in our family. A few months ago, my youngest sibling got married, which made my parents empty nesters for the first time. They have twenty grandchildren, and a granddaughter gave birth this past spring to their first great-grandchild. We’ve talked about how important it is to stay connected and communicate online or in-person with our loved ones of different ages. It’s good to share support and guidance while exchanging thoughts and ideas about the present day and reminiscing about the past. This allows us to learn from the generation before as well as the generation to come, and helps us learn to honor, love, respect and value our family and friends.
I have admired how my parents diligently helped out Lidia-mummi (my Grandma), especially after Kosti-ukki (my Grandpa) reached heaven’s glory in 1979. Dad was Lidia-mummi’s handyman while Mom showed compassion through the most challenging and busy times with patient, steadfast devotion to her care. Mom took Lidia-mummi to her doctor and dentist appointments and hospital visits and helped her with paperwork. She also taught Lidia-mummi how to drive a car. She was an honored guest in my childhood home.
We experienced life in a multigenerational household when I was a year old. My grandparents cared for me each week at their home in Marmora, Ontario, while Mom worked full-time as a teacher. Kosti-ukki passed away when I was five years old, but I still remember sitting in his lap as he talked and sang songs to me, and how his eyes twinkled when he made me laugh. Lidia-mummi was blessed with 95 years of life. Many of her family and friends enjoyed her company as well as her cooking, baking and sewing. We would talk, sit and sing for hours, either in-person or on the phone. When I lived in Finland for eleven years, I would call her regularly and mail surprise packages. She made several pairs of hand-knit mittens and socks for me, which I keep in a “treasure box” and only use on special occasions.
It was fascinating to hear stories about Lidia-mummi’s childhood in Estonia, as well as about her love story with Kosti-ukki. Everything happened in less than a year. Kosti was living in Finland and traveled to Estonia for a wedding. There, he met Lidia. After the wedding He returned home but wanted to go back to visit Lidia as soon as he could. On his second visit, they got engaged. On his third visit to Estonia, they got married, in 1938. The newlyweds traveled by ship back to Finland to make their new home.
I have golden memories of my other set of grandparents as well. Dad’s parents, Veikko and Kaino, made at least ten trips from Helsinki to Toronto to visit us at my childhood home in Bailieboro, Ontario. They usually stayed for a month or two each time. We spoke Finnish in our home, and I’m grateful that we were able to communicate in a common language with all our grandparents. Veikko-pappa was a minister, and I have many fond memories of listening to his sermons in our childhood church building, as well as going with them to visit the homes of other believers after services. Veikko often spoke about the Bible and taught us a Finnish chant about the minor prophets. It sounded like a galloping horse as he tapped his knee in time to the chant. Even today, I can almost hear his voice floating over the fields of my childhood home at the crack of dawn as he sings his favorite Finnish songs of Zion.
My children, Joel and Janika, are fortunate to have spent lots of quality time with their grandparents. Memories of Maret-mummi and Hannu-pappa are vivid in their minds: Hannu-pappa’s “orange boat” rides at the cottage, trips to the Peterborough Zoo, Thanksgiving weekends, Christmas vacations at mummi and pappa’s home, as well as long road trips together. Maret-mummi was born near Joensuu, Finland. In 1957, when she was seven years old, her family moved to Toronto. She talks about her early years in Finland, and the big moving day when they flew over the ocean to Canada, their new homeland. She remembers looking out the train window and waving, teary eyed, as the train left the Joensuu station where many members of the Joensuu congregation had gathered to bid them farewell, singing songs of Zion. Maret also shares fond memories of the Toronto congregation’s early years after it was founded in the late 1950s: the first home services that were held in Toronto, picnics at High Park, and playing hockey or skating outdoors on weekends.
Kaija-mummi and Jarmo-pappa, Joel and Janika’s other grandparents, have always lived in faraway Finland. But they still feel close, Kaija-mummi especially. She has visited Canada many times, even staying with us for four months when my husband, Janne, reported for basic training in Nova Scotia and I went back to work full-time. Janne’s military duties have taken him across the world: seven months in the Canadian Arctic, an autumn in Europe, and four months in Africa.
In a long-term multigenerational living arrangement, many wonderful memories are formed. My children will cherish forever the hiking excursions, as well as the road trips to Ottawa, Niagara Falls and Florida. Kaija-mummi reads to them in Finnish. She plays board games and helps them carve pumpkins after a trip to the pumpkin patch. Last summer, Joel flew to Finland without us for the first time. Kaija-mummi & Jarmo-pappa took him around the Finnish cities of Tampere and Turku, and Jarmo-pappa took him into the forest to pick blueberries for the first time.
A dear friend wrote a poem that nicely captures how each generation helps the next:
We are walking along a road, a long road. A road of life.
The road is narrow, it bends, it goes over rough places, it goes over hills and through valleys.
Sometimes the sun shines and sometimes it hides behind the clouds.
Sometimes there are big storms on our journey, on this long road.
This road we walk along brings us to many places. To some of us, it brings over the great seas.
We build bridges along this road, and we share memories that last a lifetime.
We are travelers, traveling as believers on this journey of faith.
Hold tight onto your faith, for through faith, we have the assurance that one day, we will meet on heaven’s shore.**
May we continue to stay connected with our dear loved ones, grandparents included, sharing precious moments that ripen into golden memories. May we tell the stories of those that have walked before us, keeping their legacy alive in our families. May we always treasure the gift of faith as we journey to our eternal home in heaven.
*Pentikäinen, Kaino (1995). Poem excerpt from Aina uutena nouseva päivä. Helsinki, Finland: Gummerus. Translated from the Finnish.
**Poem by Sheena Simonson. Printed by permission.
Discussion Questions:
How can we show care and respect to elders?
What can we do to develop close bonds with our grandparents?
What hobbies or skills can grandparents teach the younger generation?
How can elders be escorts to young people in their walk of faith? How can young people be escorts to elders?
Should we try to keep the legacy of prior generations alive? Why?
What can we learn from our parents and grandparents and their life experience?