I was sitting at my dining room table this morning, during a very stressful hour of our homeschool day, trying to have a sweet attitude and at the same time keep everyone working. It was one of those scenes that makes me sometimes look around for the hidden camera. On one knee was the 2 year old, snuggled against my neck with his thumb in his mouth, and understandably grumpy because of a fever. My 11 year old appeared with an English lesson, a distressed look on her face, and a plea for help, and took the other knee. She really had no choice, as both chairs on either side of me were already taken. On my right was my 6 year old who was slumped in his chair with the handwriting workbook before him that was to blame for wrecking a carefree day of Playmobile guys and make-believe battles. The chair to my left was occupied by my 9 year old, who was hurrying through her work with the hope that today was a computer day, and she would have the first turn.
In the back of my mind was the thought that my three teen-agers were somewhere upstairs with a list of assignments that were hopefully being accomplished. I would need to track them down and make sure, but that would have to wait for a few more minutes, because the needs in the dining room were great. The scene came to an exciting climax as one child swung the toddler's special blanket across the table to him, and in the process knocked over a large glass of water, soaking the books and papers collected there. We all jumped up in an uproar. I ran for a towel, and the responsible child ran out of the room crying!
At that moment, I suddenly had a flashback to a conversation last night with a friend about the stresses and challenges, yet blessings of homeschooling. She had jokingly called me a "superhero" for homeschooling all these kids for all these years. But here I stood in my dining room with water dripping off the table, and the furrowed brow/tight-lipped expression on my face proving that I was anything but a superhero! I wanted to run out of the room crying!
I hope the imagined hidden camera kept rolling, because the hour of stress ended. We all had lunch, the sick toddler went down for a nap, everyone finished their work and I even got to take a quick shower. But there were things of even greater significance that happened around here this week. Had my children been anywhere else, we would all have missed many blessings. There were glimpses here and there, as we went through our days together, of the work that God is doing in their hearts. I got to be around to see it, and to just enjoy time with my children.
There were so many opportunities to talk to them about the Lord. Woven in and around the stressful scenes, (and believe me, they are really less frequent than when I had 6 kids and the oldest was 9!) were many conversations that let me into their world. We talked of finding ultimate joy in Christ alone, about the connection between submission to parents now and submission to authorities later, and about the need to love one another.
There were times this week that I came face to face with my children's sin. It was not a pretty sight! But what a mercy that God exposes their sin, so that they can repent, and we can try to help them learn and grow. God also used my kids to show me a view of my own heart through different conflicts, as I fell to sins of pride, selfishness, and lack of love. It is very humbling to ask forgiveness of my children, but also very necessary. But God is gracious, and my children are forgiving.
We also learned some really interesting things together. I love to see their faces light up when they discover something new. Or see them finally obey and complete an assignment, even though they have no interest in it, and didn't enjoy it. I'll take that as a blessing!
It's been a good day.
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