My little Lilli is 12 days old today. Her actual due date was yesterday, so at the news of a much earlier trip to the hospital than anticipated, I changed my ticket and boarded the next plane out from Texas to Florida, arriving in the delivery room a scant 15 minutes AFTER she made her debut!


I was there in time to watch her get measured and checked over, and then, after what had seemed an interminable wait, she was swaddled tight and placed in my arms. I was a “Mimmie,” a role that I’d dreamed about for such a long time and that would rewrite the song of my future. I scarce could take it in. Then, if that wasn’t enough, my breath was completely stolen by the sight of my baby holding her baby.


My husband was supposed to come later this month with our other daughter, after Lilli was born. However, after one look at a picture of her face, he dropped everything and jumped on a plane the next morning, spending a couple of days becoming as smitten with her as I.


After arriving at their apartment, I’ve settled into the nursery where my grandgirl is sharing her adorable pink digs with me. I’ve fallen asleep to faint sighs and the sound of tiny pursed lips on a phantom bottle. I’ve awakened to little grunts, fists in mouth, and the ever-delightful, million-and-one facial contortions that belong only to the newborn.


I’ve been telling people that I finally understand why people love being a grandparent so much. Your grandchildren are not your responsibility; they are your PLEASURE. And truly, they are. But this morning, as I shared my quiet time with my grandgirl in the soft glow of morning light in our pink kingdom, I realized that I do have a responsibility in her upbringing. Not a responsibility FOR her, but a responsibility TO her. A little squirmy in my arms, she immediately quieted as I began to read aloud the words of Psalm 139.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalm 139:13-17

There, in the stillness, my grandgirl and I locked eyes and hearts as my tears splashed gently on her upturned face. There was a knowing in our hearts that these words were TRUE; she WAS fearfully and wonderfully made by a God whose works are wonderful, and it’s my responsibility to make sure she knows that…that she knows HIM.

Even as my days with her will, too soon, stretch from consecutive, to weeks and months in between, I will be taking my responsibility seriously. And it will be my PLEASURE. That, my darling Lilli, you can rest in!