When we started school again this year, I anticipated that the work load was going to be a bit more challenging. It’s just a reality of homeschooling. Each year becomes a bit more…everything :) More subjects, more work, more time, and I’m fine with that. I am reverting a bit back into my hermit mode, so being home more and tied up with my kiddos sounds great right now.
We have been reading through Kingdom Tales which we were supposed to finish last year, but you know… life. So we are catching up. I cannot emphasize how fabulous these books are. The kids love them, and when I was a kid, I loved them too. That’s right these gems have been around that long! I will clarify that when I was a kid we had these stories on audio cassette, not in book form. I actually played them for my 7th grade reading class when I was teaching 14 years ago. Somehow the tapes were lost and forgotten, but graciously the Lord put these wonderful stories back in my life for my kids to enjoy via our homeschool curriculum.
So, today we were reading a chapter called “Crossing Alone.” The character was going on his first “mission” alone. One of the many rules he was given before setting out on his journey was to “use his greatest gift,” which happened to be seeing the truth. In the middle of what seemed to be a no win situation, he began to despair, and hear voices whispering lies to him. He remembered the command to use his greatest gift. He calmed himself by speaking the truth to himself. The kiddos and I discussed this at great length when the story was finished. You see, I believe that truth needs to be every persons gift. There are times in life when the world will whisper lies to us….and we must stop and speak truth to our selves. For example, there is a HUGE lie in our culture that women tell themselves daily, “I am fat.” That is a lie… I am NOT fat, I HAVE fat. It does not define me. Another lie we frequently hear, “My life as a Christian will be easy and materially blessed.” Not true! Christ makes it perfectly clear to us in Luke 14 that we must count the cost before we follow him and be prepared to forsake all.
When we finally got to the end of our homeschool day we had been busy working for 6 and a half hours. Ugh! I was mentally exhausted after teaching four different grade levels for that long! So, I took my rather late lunch to my room and sat in peace for about 30 minutes. At the end of which time I emerged from my room with new vim and vigor to tackle the rest of my responsibilities for the day.
Ha ha, not really!
When I did emerge, I found that someone had spilled water on the floor in the kitchen and failed to clean it up. The dog tracked through said water and left muddy paw prints all around the kitchen. Nice. The school table was piled high with the evidence of 6 hours of hard work….which to the naked eye just seemed quite the mess. And guess what immediately happened? I started lying to myself. Imagine that! “Wow, what a great housekeeper I am!” “Housewife and Mother of the Year!!! It’s in the mail I promise!”
Then, I stopped and told myself the truth. The truth is that I needed that 30 minutes for my brain to slow back down to a normal functioning level. And just because someone spilled water and the dog tracked it everywhere does not mean that I am a crappy housewife. I simply means that life happens, and then I get to clean it up. And that pile that seems a mess to the naked eye? It really is evidence of a day well spent, and a job well done by all.
Oh, how much better our lives would appear if only we would tell ourselves the truth!
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Philippians 4:8
thank you for that :) water spilled and muddy childrens prints thru it today…lol
Cool, so it wasn’t just me! ;)
Wonderful words of truth – how we need the reminder to speak truth to ourselves. Thanks!
:)