Keeping on...

In contemplating this first half of the homeschooling year which we’ve come through, and looking back on the highs and lows, I ponder the thoughts I had of sending our children to public school next fall. As difficult as the first few weeks of January were, a mere few weeks need not dictate my ability or inability to homeschool.

Yes, the pressure is great when I think about the WHOLE picture of my children’s education. Pressure to succeed, pressure to excel, pressure to connect all the dots in my children’s learning… I could go on and on.

But I think I won’t. Focusing on the doubts and pressures, that is. As I am learning how to teach, what to teach and when to teach, I am choosing to allow room for both growth and failure. I think this is an arena where perfectionism won’t be given center-stage.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Thanks, Thomas Edison, for the example you set when developing the light bulb. Thanks for trying and trying again, not giving in to failure, but instead setting the stage where ‘keeping on’ means just that. When failure is either only felt or actually experienced, try again, don’t quit.

All things new

The stench of death that must have been in the air during times of Ancient Rome, during the time that Christ was crucified at Golgotha, between two thieves. I know, morbid thoughts for the morning, but thoughts that bring me to the knowledge that soon after Christ died, He made all things new.

When there is the stench of death in our lives - whether it be due to sin, failure, hurt, the like. We can be confident to know that just as Christ made all things new during that dreadful and delightful time He died on the cross, conquered death and rose again, He can make all things new in our life. He can remove the stench of death and failure, replacing it with the savor of His sweet Spirit.

Did Christ come to heal the healthy? Dis He come to save the righteous?

"as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one." Romans 3:10-12

No, He came to heal the sick, to save the lost, and to make all things new.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

Aren't we all looking for the 'fountain of life'? Do we not know that we can find it within the very pages of God's holy Word?

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."
John 1:1

"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For hte Scripture says, 'Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.'"
Romans 10:9-11

Now to Him who makes all things new, who has made all things new in my life; to Him who has removed the stench of death and failure from my life I praise today, looking forward to the soon-coming celebration of His death on the cross and resurrection from death to life.