Thursday, January 12, 2012

Time

The start of a new year has me thinking about time. The time I have with my children, specifically. When you have a baby everyone around you is sure to let you know that you need to enjoy every minute because it goes by so fast. Suddenly I find myself with a ten year old and five more under him. My time is spent in full each day with very little left over.

As it should be.

As parents, it is our duty to be spent. Why then, do we so easily feel that we are being cheated out of the good life when we spend ourselves to shape and lead and guide our children? I think we have taken on the world's idea that family is all good times and cuddles. We slip into that mindset and forget that the most important thing we can do as parents is show them Christ.

Thinking about time and how quickly the children are growing and will soon be out of this home, is also sort of reshaping one of my reasons for homeschooling. In the past I've thought of our homeschooling with the mindset that I'd LIKE as much time with them as possible. Now it's more of a realization that I NEED this time with them all day everyday if I'm going to be able to teach the Lord's precepts to them, train them to be kind to one another, to respect their parents, to know how to pray, to serve one another, and so many other things I couldn't do if I had to have them ready to leave the house at 8 am and didn't see them until 4 pm and then had to get them fed, cleaned up, and homework done to do it all again the next day.

Please believe me when I tell you that I say this with no judgement towards any of you who have chosen to send your children to school each day. If you can do so and still have enough time to faithfully disciple your children, you can have peace with your choice and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. We have peace that this is God's best for our family.

I guess these thoughts are just affirmation for me that we will continue this homeschooling journey- and that our reasons for doing so will probably continue to evolve. For many years we were juggling diapers and late nights with math lessons and reading practice. Now it's the math, the reading, and discussing and reasoning and explaining. I feel like the work has changed from mostly physical and sharing simple spiritual truths to a mental labor and many weightier spiritual matters. God is good and kind and so gracious. May each of us, whether homeschooling or not, truly know and believe that. And may we see evidence of that grace in the hearts of these precious souls that He has so sweetly blessed us with.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

happy birth day. enjoy your birthday