A {Hard}Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Mama
Slightly short on sleep,
she rises, ready to read the Word,
wanting that Water to wash away the worries
of yesterday, and today, and tomorrow --the naysayers of Now.
But she lingered a little too long,
and now padded patters mingle with the jingle
of dog tags. The house is astir,
and peace is pierced by demands for food, fresh air . . .The “quiet time” will have to wait,
and she chides herself for not getting up earlier.
At least there’s the regular readings with the children –
passages and prayers that turn all eyes to Him --
for the millisecond that separates squabbles and scuffles.
Grace. Gratitude.
She grapples for them, knowing that
therein lie the miracles that will make the day right.
Her head and heart heave with the knowledge that
those miracles are hers to have –
to hold and hand over to her children.
But it’s hard.
Simple.
But hard.
The recognized lie of “not enough”--
strength, wisdom, patience --
pushes her to pray
and tap into Truth,
the only Power to prove the miracle.
And when she does
all is not perfect,
but Peace presides.
This lesson learned requires review –
repeated recollections, hour by hour,
minute by minute,
that His strength is made perfect
in her weakness.
Moments of mercy –
His through her –
make amends to the day.
Readings and ramblings,
capers and calculations,
are interspersed with
glimpses of Glory –
Glory that gives hope
for the Now of her tomorrow.
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Sometimes descriptions of "a typical day" scare me. Whether it's my own description or someone else's, they can inspire fear that I'm failing because I'm not doing "enough," or because I'm not doing things "right." Like many homeschooling moms, that "f" word -- "failure" -- haunts my head -- and steals my joy. So, my hope with this poem is that others might see themselves in it -- and be inspired to cling to those glimpses of Glory that God gives. We have the Power in us -- the Gift of Grace in every moment -- because we have Creator God in us. We can claim joy -- even in those hard moments when the Deceiver would drag us down.
Will you wallow in feelings of failure -- or will you grab Grace and count it all Joy -- every. typical. day?
I used to listen to the people who told tales of their "magical" homeschool days where everything worked wonderfully and the mother was sweet, the children precocious and mindful of each other... how it all came together perfectly to glorify our Lord.
ReplyDeleteThen I grew up.
A glimpse into ANYONE'S day can look wonderful and beautiful - but the HONEST person admits that 10 minutes before she questioned not only her ability to homeschool, but her ability to be a parent... and that within a half an hour of that "perfect moment" they shared about, was chaos again.
The ONLY perfect child was Jesus... and I don't even think Mary would have considered herself the perfect parent... so I let those things go, or at least try to, and remind myself that it's not A Moment or A Day that makes my child who they are... it's all the moments, all the days... which means that - if I am honest - MOST of the time I must be a good parent, because my children are generally happy and moderately mindful, my children are intelligent, if not studious, and as a family we are strong and seeking the Lord's direction in our lives - so I believe we're must be doing something right.
You are a good mother. You are a loving wife. You have really cool, compassionate, creative children... that's a job well done, my sweet Sister.
You're so right, Shannon :) And I've never thought about how Mary might have felt!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sweet encouragement, friend!