This spring I have spent so much time on character issues and speaking truth to my children about various struggles they were going through, that it has been a struggle to accomplish all that I want to, and stick to my planned schedule.
A few weeks ago, I was waxing eloquent (teaching? preaching?) on several issues, and finally noticed how much time I had taken from our “school” day. I was frustrated. As I said, that has been rather too common this spring. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth (I hadn’t even gotten to that yet), and hadn’t been there two minutes when I received an email on my phone from my daughter entitled, “I wrote a blog post for you instead”. I will let you read it (with her permission) – remember, it is my fifteen-year-old writing this in my “voice”, and not actually me:
“I sighed. Yet again the morning was passing and we hadn’t done one lick of school. It was 9:45 and most of us were still in our pyjamas. As I started giving a speech to my two children about somehow, yet again! we were starting almost two hours late on our school, my fifteen year old daughter cut in. “Mom,” she interrupted. “This morning you taught us about trusting God, not to have unrealistic expectations for other people that well, are unrealistic. You told us that when someone is running late or just uptight don’t take their frustration as personal. and lastly we can’t change whenever we want to so don’t expect others to.” I sat there letting the words sink in. All in all it had been a successful morning. I had taught my kids much more important lessons then Math and History. these lessons they would take with them forever. It would affect every interaction they had with someone. For life.
As I walked to the bathroom to finally brush my teeth I thanked God for all of these interactions and that he can even use a behind schedule crazy day to learn more about Him.”
I laughed out loud in when I read this. And then I realized two things: My daughter had just done “Creative writing” – check. And even more importantly, she had actually heard what I had been trying to convey, since she was able to summarize it so well in this “blog”.
Learning is more than just sitting down with the books, however important that is. It happens in so many ways. Let’s be encouraged as we keep our eyes wide open to note all that our children are learning.