Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children (Proverbs 17:6).

My children were ridiculously excited for the celebration of my 33rd birthday.  Weeks before the day arrived, they were writing poems, drawing pictures, and planning out other special surprises.  They would regularly ask me, "How many days 'til your birthday, Daddy?!?"  They would whisper and conspire and grin at me like Cheshire cats.  And when the actual day of my birthday finally arrived, they dressed in their finest clothes:  Elliot in a white button-down shirt, bow tie, black dress slacks, and shiny black dress shoes; and Olivia in a pink flower-printed dress which she had deliberately been saving for that particular day (refusing to wear it for weeks in advance, for fear of spoiling it).  Then their mother told them that the time was right, they walked into my bedroom with arms full of presents, singing Happy Birthday to me.  I couldn't quite understand the excessive outpouring of their affection, given the fact that adult birthdays in our household have typically been rather modest affairs.  But then, I read Proverbs 17:6, and it all made sense to me.

There's something especially awe-inspiring about the love of a small child for his or her parents -- and, uncannily similar, about the love of a grandparent for his or her grandchildren.  It's an over-the-top kind of love, an almost irrational kind of love and joy and pride.  It's total and undiluted, in a way that a parent's (or any immediate care-giver's) sacrificial love cannot be.  It delights purely in personhood and relationship.  It's a beautiful and powerful thing to behold.

I'm not exactly sure why the love of a small girl for her Mommy or the love of a grandfather for his grandson is so remarkable in this way.  And I'm not sure why the Bible would call attention to this sort of glory and joy.  But I have to wonder if it reveals something of the relationship that was intended to exist between God and man -- the kind of "pleasant garden strolls in the cool of the day" type of relationship that existed in Eden, before the Fall of Man.  Could these expressions of emotion such as a grandfather's abiding pride and joy or a little girl's unadulterated Mommy-worship be vestigial traces of our true nature, before we were mired by selfishness, sin, and sacrifice???  I honestly don't know if a compelling biblical case could be made in this direction.  But it's certainly an interesting possibility to consider...