Worry & Opposition
Just before Christmas my husband and I sat watching a movie {probably one of the 700 cheesy Hallmark movies I consumed this past season :-)} and I had to hit the pause button to ask him what must have seemed like the most out-of-left-field question in that moment:
Do you really think we can get them all the way through highschool?
I don’t know why that particular thought made itself front and center right then but it was just the latest in a whole host of rotating, menacing, creeping fears that invade my peace at unexpected and inopportune times.
Should I worry he doesn’t know how to _______________?
Am I causing harm if they don’t get to _______________?
Is there something I can change to better prepare him for _______________?
Can I really teach them _______________?
Is my own _______________ keeping them away from something essential and/or beneficial?
We’re coming out of the holiday season and many of us have had unpleasant conversations or faced criticisms from family members these last weeks. So much of the opposition you face comes from a place of misunderstanding, a simple resistance to change and an aversion to the unknown. If we’re honest though, most of the discouraging voices we hear are really trying to say “I love you, I love your kids, and I only want the best for you all”…….albeit a message usually delivered in all the wrong ways.
I say to brand new or considering homeschoolers all the time:
…..more half the battle is won with homeschool dissenters in your circle when you present your life with a firm and confident conviction.
I say it to others because I’ve seen it at work in my own experience. Homeschooling is still a misunderstood and often unpopular choice but the confidence to live the strength of your conviction is tough to oppose. In a world where you so often stand alone, it’s easy to see that confidence slip into arrogance when left unchecked. This is what I try to let worries and uncertainties do for me as they come; force me to examine them for truth and cast the rest aside.
We’ve been brought to this place in our lives considering the education of our kids for a reason. Sometimes the concerns of our loved ones with have truth in them. No one method, family, curriculum, situation, or teacher is perfect….homeschool or otherwise. Remember that you don’t have to be perfect to be following the best plan for your family. Worries will come, opposition will be there, fears will creep up on you…….you don’t have to let them control your thoughts or guide your actions!
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? -Matthew 6:27 (NIV)
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. -Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
