Here’s What American Heritage Girls’ Founder Wants Her Grandkids to Know
By Movieguide® Contributor
Founder and national executive director of Ohio-based non-profit American Heritage Girls, Patti Garibay, told Fox News 11 things she wants her grandkids to know.
Garibay has four children and 11 grandchildren. The first thing she wants her grandkids to do is “Discover the Meaning of Life.”
“For three decades, I searched for the meaning of life on this Earth,” she said. “This search is common to man; it is a normal experience and necessary for each to discover and to own. I know it: to love God and His people. All decisions can be measured against this expression, and if done regularly, life will have great purpose beyond your time on earth.”
The second thing is to be “grateful always.” She wants her grandkids to know that God is the provider of all, so they should be grateful “from a place of fullness” rather than “scarcity.”
The third item is “Understand that our sense of time is not the Divine’s sense of time,” she said. “Life is a long game, and our current crisis is only for a moment. Make important decisions through the lens of impact over time. Today’s problem will serve as tomorrow’s lesson for personal growth in the tapestry of your life.”
The fourth thing she believes is important is to “Never underestimate the importance of faith for your mental health,” she said. “Prayer and worship help our normally egocentric selves to look beyond our needs and wants and center on our God who fills our every need. As Blaise Pascal, renowned French philosopher, said, ‘We all have a God-sized hole in our heart.’”
For the fifth item, she wants her grandkids to make their relationships and family a priority, because God designed the family unit. She says it’s important that they don’t “cancel” their friends and family, but appreciate differences and enjoy unity.
Number six is to “Be generous,” she said. “Do not give from your overflow but rather from your current state. Be willing to sacrifice for others and reap the blessing that comes from God-given altruism. Be generous with your time, talent and treasure.”
“Be humble,” she said of number seven. “Know that you are unique and special due to your inheritance in the Kingdom of God. But beyond that, no person is above another. It takes more courage and strength to be humble than it does to be prideful and haughty.”
Her eighth item is to “Yearn to learn and have a sense of humor.” She hopes to instill in her grandchildren a sense of wonder, no matter what age they are and to look at things with humor.
Number nine is to “Respect life,” she said. “Life is precious in all stages and ages. Life comes from God and relies on God. We are inextricably tethered to our Maker — and without this recognition, we are simply finite creatures whose purpose relies on our current emotive state.”
Number ten ties in with 9. It’s “10. Know you were created on purpose for a purpose. The exploration of your God-given purpose may take a decade or a lifetime. Recognize the gifts that have been given to you. Discover your passion as passion gives fuel to purpose, which is essential during difficult seasons.”
And finally, for number eleven, she wants her grandkids to pick a vocation rather than a career. She wishes that follow where God tells them to go and ignore where the world says they should go.
“Look beyond obvious gifts and skill. Identify your passions and marry the two,” she added.
“Along with other parents, Garibay started the faith-based American Heritage Girls in 1995 around a kitchen table in Ohio, ‘frustrated” at that time, she said, with how a scouting organization was handling matters of faith and culture,” Fox reported last month. “Her scouting-type leadership group for girls was born with a Christian focus; its first troops were fourth-grade and fifth-grade girls.”
The mission of American Heritage Girls is “Building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country.”
Gariaby’s troops are in each U.S. state and in 15 other countries. The girls perform outdoor activities, earn badges and complete service projects.
Her father inspired her book, “Why Curse the Darkness When You Can Light a Candle.” He lived with MS for 40 years and kept a positive attitude until his death in 2004.
“Parents have a God-given responsibility to know what their children are being taught,” she wrote in her book.
