Houston Christian Celebrates Grandparents’ Day

On Thursday, Sept. 22, Houston Christian welcomed over 400 grandmothers and grandfathers to a special Grandparents’ Day celebration. Hundreds of wise men and women explored the halls and happenings at Houston Christian, getting to reminisce about their own high school years as they watched modern-day teenagers busy learning and socializing. Students whose grandparents lived much too far away for them to see often were filled with joy at the chance to hear the phrase, “You’ve gotten so big!”

Students at Houston Christian were very involved with the whole day; besides students’ eager greetings to their grandparents, National Honor Society students worked hard the entirety of the day to help assemble and disassemble the gym’s cafeteria setting, escort grandparents around the school and to their grandchildren, and serve lunch to all the hungry guests. For those without grandparents, or ones that live too far to drive for the day (or the weekend), the sight of the celebration brought a deep feeling of remembrance. Remembering the ones who would remind our parents to go a little easier on little-us, the ones who would shower us with gifts like a new doll house or play race car track on Christmas Day. 

For the Chapel ceremony, Pastor Matt Popovits properly honored the appearing grandparents with a heartfelt and truth-filled sermon. “Love remembers and love forgets,” he repeated, reminding us again and again of how grandparents manage to remember every special date and forget all of the ways we upset our parents. His illustration of grandmotherly and grandfatherly love does not simply apply to the gray-haired individuals calling us on our birthdays, but to all of us. Every single one of us should love with love that “remembers” and “forgets.” Love that remembers all the important things about another and acts upon those. Love that forgets the wrongdoings just as we would hope another would forget our own.

Grandparents and grandchildren were left to ruminate on this fact through a fun, picnic style lunch that exuded the homey feeling of a Rudy’s – long tables with long benches and the possibility to sit by old and new friends. The room was filled with the grandparents’ inquiries of how their grandchildren are doing in school, sports, and with their love lives. They wanted to know all the big events coming up and if they got their birthday gift in the mail. They yearned to know when they would next come visit and if they could meet their friends. And the grandchildren, realizing how much love their grandparents had for them, answered all the questions with a smile.