Who's Your Saviour?

I am struck by how many saving influences we have at our beck and call in modern society.  What has been more striking to me in our 2nd week of a new year of school is how often I want to run to one of these worldly saviours.  I am feeling overwhelmed with the education of my children, I am ashamed to say the thought of sending them off on a golden chariot to school has crossed my mind.  My emotions seem ablaze and out of control, maybe I could call on a friend or someone to just listen to me.  I am exhausted physically, perhaps another cup of coffee will do the trick to perk me up.  Yikes!  This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my automatic reaction to life and my buckling under the tiniest amount of pressure.  Running to the world for comfort has been my all too immediate response lately.
What is more disappointing than my weakness and lack of faith is that I have passed it on to my children!  When school gets hard they fight the temptation to fuss.  When they have to work hard they cave into the temptation to sigh and whine about the work.  When relationships get difficult they often act in a selfish way.
  Years ago before all of the modern day comforts we enjoy I wonder if it was so easy to run to the world for relief from our everyday problems?  I recently watched just a snippet of a documentary on Theodore Roosevelt.  As a young man he lost his wife and then his mother.  In his grief he headed west to Dakota Territory where he lived a solitary and hard working life.  It was a time of healing not by escaping discomfort but working hard through it.  There were not many therapists and physcologists to run to when the trials of life got hard.  He and others at the time had to simply live through the trials and grief of life.  What a beautiful example of fortitude, one that we see less and less these days.
The temptation to run to pop-phsycology, medication and worldly interventions is overwhelming in our society.  We are promised a  cure for every ail.  When we run to the world's saviours will we ever find true healing?  Perhaps there is a place for what the world and science have discovered in the way of drugs and therapies, but dare I say in this politically correct world of words that first we must seek our true Saviour Jesus Christ?  I wonder how many times it even crosses the mind of a sufferer to run to Jesus?
We are not promised happiness or ease of life.  We are promised comfort, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.  We are not promised worldly wealth or riches, we are promised provision, "My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.  We are not promised happiness in life, but we are promised peace, "I will listen to what god the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints." Psalm 85:8.  With all of these great promises in a true saviour why is it we continue to throw His ways away and try the world's?
Parenting is not easy.  Especially if you choose to take on the majority of the responsibility of caring for your children on your own.  The past two weeks have highlighted this fact in my life over and over again.  However, we have a saviour that will certainly be able to help us in each of our trials, but we must take the step to call on Him and accept the help He gives.  It is not usually in the form of a pill or a quick fix, but rather of a molding our character and soul into the likeness of Him.  This way runs so contrary to how the world deals with issues.  His way always has lasting satisfaction, even if we don't get to see the entire result until we enter eternity with Him!  In the mean time, "We say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?'" Hebrews 13:6

Our Children Love School!

We are in the first of our 3 weeks of school break. I asked the children what they wanted to do this morning and everyone wanted to stay home and play. What a blessing! As I am sitting here typing my oldest daughter is "teaching" her sisters. Of all the things they could do with a free morning they decided to play school! I hear my words coming out of my eldest daughters mouth and my younger ones are listening. What a joy to hear my girls playing together.

Most days school is not a huge chore and we all get along well. But, there are the other days that make me question my ability to teach the girls and their ability to learn from me. My utmost desire in schooling them is to prepare them for whatever God has in store for their lives. I want them to have a love of learning not so they can be master academics rather, that they love to learn about our Lord and Saviour. It's moments like these that I lift up my hands in praise to the Lord that He has decided to show me some fruit in the lives of these little girls. Yippee, they like school!!!

So what have I done to get to this moment? Nothing, if I have done anything it has probably been hindering the children from enjoyment and delight in learning. The only thing that can be known from this is that God is faithful when we ask him to be the Principal and source of all our knowledge whether in school or otherwise. I must continue to lift up each day of our learning and school and leave it in the only capable hands, His hands.

As we enjoy this break in our schooling I will remember to praise God for these glimpses of fruit and ask that he be in each part of our day.