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Friday, February 22, 2008
I'm sitting here with my cup of coffee on the last morning of our spring break week, somehow feeling mildly cheated. It was, of course, a true break for the kids, but I'm wondering why it feels like I got almost no break! And the worst part is, it's still another month until spring! I'm thinking about calling this week "winter break" and scheduling spring for another day...but we do have a certain amount of stuff that needs to be covered this year and I'm afraid that another week of break would mean we'd be finishing up just before time to start back in August...
On days like this it helps for me to take a deep breath and remember my calling. On any given day I'd probably choose a day off, but the truth is that never would I trade in this life we've built for the relief of the yellow school bus or any other alternative. Sometimes it seems like I can't possibly have the stamina to finish this task, which won't be complete until right before my 60th birthday. And yet with 23 years already behind me, it's also unthinkable that I won't.
When God called us to start down this road, it's a good thing He didn't tell me I'd be walking it for 29 years or I'd have turned in my license right then. After all, we had only three children then, and we only saw homeschooling (for us) as a transition to institutional schooling. Instead, it became a transition to...college. But along the way, He solidified our vision for the future of our expanding family, and through all the challenges of the years that followed we've never been sorry or seriously thought about looking back. (Okay, there was that one time when...oh, never mind.)
So, as our "break" ends and I sit looking at the stack of manuals staring back at me, I have to breathe a prayer of thanksgiving. God has allowed me to get within six years of the finish line and I will not sit down yet. Well, yes of course I'll sit since that's about all I can do right now. But inside, I'm still running the marathon. And I will rely on the Giver of the task and the vision to keep me running until the job, at least this part of the job, is complete. We're getting close.
And in that sense, it's nearly spring.
On days like this it helps for me to take a deep breath and remember my calling. On any given day I'd probably choose a day off, but the truth is that never would I trade in this life we've built for the relief of the yellow school bus or any other alternative. Sometimes it seems like I can't possibly have the stamina to finish this task, which won't be complete until right before my 60th birthday. And yet with 23 years already behind me, it's also unthinkable that I won't.
When God called us to start down this road, it's a good thing He didn't tell me I'd be walking it for 29 years or I'd have turned in my license right then. After all, we had only three children then, and we only saw homeschooling (for us) as a transition to institutional schooling. Instead, it became a transition to...college. But along the way, He solidified our vision for the future of our expanding family, and through all the challenges of the years that followed we've never been sorry or seriously thought about looking back. (Okay, there was that one time when...oh, never mind.)
So, as our "break" ends and I sit looking at the stack of manuals staring back at me, I have to breathe a prayer of thanksgiving. God has allowed me to get within six years of the finish line and I will not sit down yet. Well, yes of course I'll sit since that's about all I can do right now. But inside, I'm still running the marathon. And I will rely on the Giver of the task and the vision to keep me running until the job, at least this part of the job, is complete. We're getting close.
And in that sense, it's nearly spring.
Labels: Homeschooling
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