O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. Psalm 71:17,18
One of my fondest memories is sitting with my family in front of the big stone fireplace at my husband’s aunt’s cabin in the upper “mitten” of Michigan on cold winter nights. After a hard day of work renovating the cabin, and after a yummy, evening meal, weary and satisfied, we would gather in front of the rustic, stone fireplace for a time of evening family worship. As the fire crackled and popped in the quiet of the evening, we would have a solemn and thoughtful reading of the Bible, a time of prayer, and then someone would suggest a Psalm to sing. On one of these special evenings, my husband’s aunt picked Psalm 71 (from The Book of Psalms for Singing). The longing of the Psalmist to share with the next generation what he himself had been taught about God is strongly expressed in the seventy first Psalm; and that night, God put that same longing in my own heart.
Christian parents understand the longing to share with their children what they themselves have learned about God; and we yearn that our children will have this same desire to teach their children the things of God, and that the next generation would learn from them, and so on and so on.
Desiring and doing are two different things, however. Christian parenting is not for the faint of heart, or is it? Our desire to teach our children the ways of the Lord must be coupled with the knowledge that we cannot guide and teach in our own strength. Furthermore, once we start on this journey of teaching and raising our children in the fear of the Lord, we find out that we HAVE no strength of our own and are, indeed, faint of heart!! Praise the Lord when we come to this realization; and hopefully, we come to this knowledge sooner than later!!
A Christian parent who spends time on his knees, begging our Father God for help, guidance, wisdom, love, and patience is a parent who understands that, without God, we can do nothing. Self-reliance, self-determination, self-promotion – these are all temptations and stumbling blocks for parents. Therefore, to God we go, seeking forgiveness for this propensity for autonomy, and then pleading for a spirit of dependence and humility instead.
As homeschoolers, we are blessed to be able to spend more time with our children in their formative and young adult years. We present God our Savior to them through our instruction and curriculum. We teach our children about our amazing Creator as we unveil His wonders in science and in the arts. History comes alive and spiritually relevant to our children when they learn that it is His Story. We teach our children to look at the world through the lens of Scripture, to depend on God for salvation and for sanctification, and to be lights in this world.
We have “no greater joy than to hear that [our] children walk in truth, 3 John 1:4, and we yearn that our children, when they are old and greyheaded, will have a heart’s desire to teach the next generation the wonders of God.
So, stay the course, Christian, homeschooling parent! Though the challenges of homeschooling are beyond what can be imagined, the blessings of persevering in the power, wisdom, and love of God are beyond measure! - Principal Brown
