Category Archives: Rest in the Lord

Good Morning Sunshine!

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I never appreciate homeschooling so much as when I hear the school bus go by at 7 am. Just the thought of getting my kids up and ready in time to catch a bus at that time of the morning makes me cringe.

Conversely, I used to enjoy the flexibility of homeschooling by waking up when my kids came to snuggle in bed with me. We would talk and have such a peaceful morning. Then we would do our morning routines and have breakfast before casually starting school.

The problem with this plan is that my morning routine takes longer than my kids’ morning routines, so I was never finished with everything when we started school. As a result, I was frequently distracted by thoughts of what I needed to get done. I would sometimes even run in to start a load of laundry or return an important phone call in the middle of our school time.

After years of homeschooling, I have found that there really needs to be a middle ground.

Now I get up well before my children. I allow enough time to exercise and enjoy a period of actual quiet time for my devotion. I have time to get a load of laundry done and dress and be ready to face the day, no matter what surprises it brings.

By accomplishing what I need to do before school starts, I can be completely focused on our time together, which means we can get more done in less time. It alleviates anxiety as well, so I’m less likely to be short-tempered with my kids.

Another important reason to get moving in the morning is that our kids need time to play outside each day. If we waste away the morning, then do school all afternoon, there is little time for play and discovery.

Let me just clarify that I am NOT a morning person. This does not come naturally to me. It is a choice I’ve made, in order to have a more productive and calmer day. As homeschool families, we have so much flexibility, which is a real blessing to us and our children, but we need to decide how to best utilize that flexibility. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should!

One Little Boy Prepared For the Day

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One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. (John 6:1-14) It’s a favorite because of the little boy “with five small barley loaves and two small fish”. We don’t know anymore about the little boy, than the fact that he offered his lunch to Jesus, but I love to consider the motivation and feelings of the people in the Bible.

I can picture that small boy setting out that morning, his mom giving him a kiss on the forehead and handing him his lunch. She had prepared him for the day ahead, despite the fact that she could never have know what the day would bring.

We don’t know if he was seeking Jesus, or if Jesus happened to pass by at some point and claimed the boy’s attention. Either way, the little boy stepped up when the need arose and gave generously, with the gift his mother gave him just that morning.

As homeschool parents we are actively preparing our children, however, we don’t know exactly what we are preparing them for. That little boy’s mom could have been sending him out for a day of fishing, but she could never have known he would be part of an amazing miracle! We may be preparing our child go to college, or just go to grandma’s house, or even just to go outside to play with the neighbor kids, but there’s a possibility that God has a completely different plan for them this day.

It’s our job to prepare them, it’s God’s job to use them, and it’s their job to say yes. To say ‘yes’ to His will, to say ‘yes’ to their calling. We can’t say yes for them; we can only prepare them, and cover them in prayer.

A Sabbath Mood Rests on Our Day

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This year’s Eve Anderson tea, at the ChildLight USA Conference, was a much needed breath of fresh air. We had been at the conference less than 24 hours, and already we had learned so much! We were all so excited and full of new ideas to implement, but at the same time we had begun to feel a bit overwhelmed.

I had seen spots in the schedule for “processing time” and I had wondered what that was all about? It turned out that it had nothing to do with computer processors, but my brain needing some processing time! Similar to my computer slowing to a crawl because my fingers get going too fast, my brain was slowing to a crawl with all this new information!

Melanie Walker’s talk was on the “The Beauty of Time”, and it was just what we all needed. However, the first thing she did was give us a little copywork to do. Really! But the poem was by Wendell Berry, and it talked of the fact that we can and should give all we have in us to the field, but in the end, it’s God who provides the harvest.

I just couldn’t get over this poem. It spoke deeply to my heart, and so it seemed the perfect namesake for my new blog.

1979, no. X by Wendell Berry (The Sabbath Poems)

Whatever is foreseen in joy
Must be lived out from day to day.
Vision held open in the dark
By our ten thousand days of work.

Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled

And left to grace. That we may reap,
Great work is done while we’re asleep.
When we work well, a Sabbath mood
Rests on our day, and finds it good.