Carl Larsson
Celebrating last weekend with over 300 moms was quite soul-filling for me. Vibrant conversations, beautiful singing, inspiring speakers--I was so very humbled and blessed to be a part.
Yet, one of the issues that came to mind over and over again as I talked to these women was the issue of training, I want to pass on the picture of training and filling the souls and hearts of children with kingdom principles and truth so that they come alive. It is not a procedure but a relationship. Passing on spirituality is not so much getting the right curriculum, or being "holier" than thou, but it is passing on a life of love, passion for Christ, and goodness that overflows from your own heart. I am reposting an older blog article that gets to the heart of training our "Princesses and Princes" for the role of ruling in their own world someday. Happy Monday.
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Thursday morning was the first day, I think, in a whole year when I had Joy all to myself with everyone else out of the house for a whole day! (Sarah is in Kentucky with a dear friend of mine, Nathan in California, Joel and Clay at work!) We lit candles and sipped our own hot mug of brew in the quiet of my bedroom where no one could find us.
I then had the most wonderful time of reading to her and then teaching her about Abraham and Isaac. We spent almost an hour and half looking at different scripture about him--God calling him to leave his home to follow Him; the promise of a nation outnumbering the sand on the seashore coming from His line--becoming a Father of a nation; his waiting period for the promised son; the birth of Isaac; the sacrifice of Isaac; the passages in Hebrews of him and Sarah living by faith.
"Indeed, If they had been thinking of that country from which they went out (their home!), they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:15
We talked and talked about how we are here temporarily and will some day go to a heavenly country. We talked about Abraham giving up his treasure into God's hands, knowing that He could trust God to hold and keep all that was important to Him--and how indeed God provided the lamb stuck in the bushes--he had already planned to provide for Abraham, but gave Abraham the chance to worship by yielding his treasure and showing God his heart of trust. We talked about how great a nation, throughout history, the Jews became--how God multiplies the work of faith and service we do to make it beyond what we can imagine--just like he did for Abraham. We ended on Romans 12:1-2--the need for us to yield ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice to God which is our spiritual service of worship--just like Abraham did and to be willing to go anywhere, do anything for the privilege of serving God and doing His work on the earth!
I could almost see her little heart swell to the greatness of His calling on her life--I wonder how God will use you? I wonder what it will look like for you to live by faith. Look at how God has blessed and led our family as we have served Him. She then said, "You know, Mom, I used to sometimes worry about the possibility of us moving somewhere for our ministry and wondering if I would be willing to give up my friends, but I gave that to Him last week, knowing that I would rather serve Him and watch Him do great things, than to hold on to my little world and fears."
I realized again why I love homeschooling--I have the time to have access to my sweet princess's brain and heart and time to discuss really important things and to love her and nurture her without the hurry and worry that the imposition of a regular schedule might bring. I cherish the times I can train her for the realm in which she will some day rule and bring His light. I love knowing that she and I are such close soul companions because of all the focused time spent without the competition of so many others that she would have if she was in the company of hundreds and hundreds of kids every day. I am preparing to send my children out, and probably away from me, but they will go with hearts and minds filled with stories of heroes who lived differently--boldly, bravely, intentionally for Christ's purposes--to bring light and beauty and truth to their world.
Joy's concluding thought was, "I hope I have 12 kids so I can really have a lot of leaders to send from my home. I can't wait to have my own domain so I can make a place where greatness can live and be made every day as I teach my kids."
It is all about loving God and passing on the baton of His love to our children. Enjoy your day of training your own royalty to rule over the kingdoms God will give to them. And be sure to enjoy the moment--it will pass more quickly than you know!
Grace and peace!
Sally