Finding the Wonder (#fmfparty)

Books...I'm a firm believer that one can never have too many books! Books have a way of capturing our imaginations, taking us to new places (both in a figurative and literal sense), and transporting us away from the chaos and noise of our world, at least for a little while. Books delight, inspire, teach, guide, and unite.

While this homeschool year has taken on a life of its own through dealing with behavioral and character issues causing us to stray far away from our lesson plans (where we are a month ahead in two subjects and a week behind in others), reading serves as the glue that binds mother and son/teacher and student back together and reassures us that everything will (eventually) work itself out.

Reading quiets, settles, and brings to life all the ideas, imagination, and creativity that video games and TV steal from my child (oh, that's another topic in itself--using technology as a baby sitter so moms can buy time to get our stuff done--guilty).

Reading brings us back to the pure beauty, simplicity, and delight of books. Books are still one of the cheapest yet timeless forms of entertainment.

And, reading is where we find adventure, suspense, gore (google Phineas Gage), strategy, heroism, chivalry, generosity, character, and so much more.

We find wonder through discovering new (well, old) worlds with historical characters. We find joy when we unearth the treasure that we spent chapters looking for. We find satisfaction when good triumphs over evil. We find hilarity through antics, cleverness, or mishaps of fictional characters. And we find togetherness as we read while rocking away in a rocking chair (although rocking my child who is now about foot shorter than me is almost impossible), while snuggled up under Ninja Turtle blankets by the book lamp just before bed, by the sunlight of a window in the early hours of the morning because we can't wait any longer to see what happens, or while waiting in the van before another appointment/meeting.

Tonight, I simply want to share some of the wonder that we've found over the past two weeks. It is that wonder that keeps us persevering with homeschool and reminds me that this investment and relationship is worth it. It's that wonder that keeps my child begging for "just one more chapter" or who thanks me for grounding him from TV and video games so he can see how fun life is with books. And it's the wonder that prompts those secretive or amused glances between mother and son as we find something while we are out that reminds us of a story we are reading.

This book has been a household favorite since our son's anaphylactic diagnosis at age 3.

Find action and adventure with cowboys and bandits like Wild Bill Hickok, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Geronimo, & Butch Cassidy. Great for a boy's imagination while sneaking in history and geography!

We just got this book last week and couldn't put it down. We are already reading this book for a second time! It truly captivates a little boy's imagination with everything from robots, pirates, ghosts, and knights! This book has it all!

These two books are my son's contribution when he wants to read aloud! They are easy favorites that build his confidence in reading (plus, he really does like to hop on pop and has been since he was old enough to crawl on top of his pop)!

"The books are more fun than the video game!" They make a great substitute if you're grounded from Minecraft. I have to admit that even I secretly read ahead because I wanted to know how Book 2 was going to end! My guys will not let me live that one down! They also learned tried and true secrets to the game (my son had my husband try them out for him)!

We still aren't done with this book, but it brings science and adventure together through ballooning, an unbelievable diamond mine discovery, crazy household inventions, and a massive volcano!

Tonight, I got suckered into a Little Critter marathon at bedtime! Simple and colorful! Plus these books bring back memories for me since a couple were from my collection that I had when I was a kid!

And, there's nothing like a good Dr. Seuss collection to expand vocabulary and highlight creativity!

These aren't Dr. Seuss, but they are the books I'm working on right now. (There are days when I feel like I have Book ADD...but some days, I'm in a mood for one subject and other days I want something totally different or not as heavy...lol).

Tonight after I finished the last Little Critter book, my son flashed me a secret message that reminds me of the power behind books, of the pure joy of reading together, and of how much these moments mean to him:  

 May you find the wonder of reading a great book this week!

*Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "FIND".

Learning to Bow // five minute friday

“Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God.” Proverbs 1:7a (Message)

Last year, God led us to Proverbs 1:7a to define the goal of our homeschool as this verse answers the what and the why of our motivation to homeschool. It's not only our goal, but it is the foundation of our educational philosophy. 

However, we have lost sight of that goal and we’ve only completed our first month of the school year. Somewhere between the battle of the wills, lack of support from friends who used to think homeschooling was great but now think we’re crazy for continuing with it, and dealing with a child who has a great brain but uses it only when he wants to, we have completely lost sight of the bigger picture.

As soon as I saw this week’s word ("learn"*), Proverbs 1:7 came to mind reminding me of what learning is all about. God led us down the path of homeschooling so we could learn together as a family what it means to start with Him and how to bow down to Him in everything. It is a verse both for parent and child, teacher and student.

It sounds simple in theory but it’s in the middle of the battle of the wills when I’m feeling rather ungodly that I need to bow down to God instead of bow down to my way and what I feel in that moment. God's response has a way of diffusing situations and lending much-needed perspective. Bowing down to God when my friends back away means loving them regardless and standing firm in what we believe knowing that following God requires sacrifice and obedience. And bowing down to God when my child refuses to apply himself means seeking Him for direction, patience, love, and guidance as I respond to my child.

Bowing down to God isn’t just something I do but it’s something I have to teach my child to do as well. It’s teaching my child that we all are under God’s authority and showing him what that relationship looks like. It’s taking the time to explain the “why” behind our rules and rather than making Christianity look like a bunch of do’s and don’ts. It’s giving God the respect that He deserves as we live out our lives respecting one another. It’s making God’s Word, His ways, and Him a priority in all that we do. It’s intentionally living out Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (the very passage that I have so resisted using to illustrate why we homeschool because it is so overused and thrown out carelessly in too many circles):

“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.”

I feel like our school days lately are 80% dealing with heart issues and 20% “education”. And this week has been flat-out discouraging, frustrating, and exhausting! We have moments where my child totally excels, applies himself, and hungers for knowledge. But then we have those moments that threaten to ruin the entire day because everything simply falls apart for him and we choose to end our day early to save the relationship and deal with the behavioral issues at hand. 

How I needed to meditate on Proverbs 1:7 tonight, to remember the why, and to reflect on what is most important for us to learn this year! While homeschooling is exhausting and challenging work at times, it truly is excellent training ground for both the parent and child/the teacher and student to learn what it means to bow down to God in every area of life. 

*Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "LEARN".

Here I Am (#fmfparty)

Here.

Here I am walking in the all too familiar place of wanting more of God and less of self, wanting the life He has for me and less of the life I am striving toward, and wanting to be filled with God-like character and depth and less of the trivial pettiness that often comes my way.

Here I am sensing that God desires it all yet holding back because I fear what it is He really wants because I don't know how to live a life in reckless abandon in Him where every step is not measured and calculated.

Here I am tasting remnants of God in my life yet still unsatisfied because it's easier to live out of what is certain that I can create than to live out of His Sovereignty where I willingly hand over all control, holding nothing back.

Here I am seeing God in the details as He keeps working out His good in my life yet I still remain blinded because fear hinders me from seeing all that there is to see.

Here I am hearing God whisper to me through His Word, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." I John 4:18. And then Jeremiah 29:13 "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

Here I am confessing my desperate need for God because I know I can't keep going on in this state. Revelation 3:15-21 says, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."

Here I am trusting without fear because God is here. He enables me to walk, sense, taste, see, and hear that He is God through His loving command in Psalm 46:10-11: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge." He beckons me to come to Him and to know that He is God. To not just know with my head, but to use my God-given senses to "taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" Psalm 34:8. "And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." John 6:35-37

God, Here I am.


*Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "HERE".

Try: The Enemy of Do (#fmfparty)

After everyone went to bed last night, I sat down to write this week's FMF* on the word "try" when I got distracted by an email that my friend sent me which contained a link to a song called Settle Me Now.

As I listened to the song, I couldn't help but draw the connections between different "themes" that God has been weaving lately. The song coincides with the angst that I feel as I ponder the word "try". Am not sure if this will make any sense to anyone else but me, but here's my take on "try" anyway:


Sometimes try is the enemy of do.

When we say that we'll try something, there is hesitancy, unsurety, skepticism, and timid belief.

When we say we'll do something, there is confidence, surety, belief, commitment, and loyalty. It's going a step further than trying. "Doing" assumes that God will equip you to do whatever He puts in your path, that He will give what is needed in that moment to not just try something but to do it.

Try sometimes implies a one-shot, carefree effort. If it works it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't...not a big deal. It means no commitment, no staying-power, and surface relationships only.

Do implies seeing something through to the end. It means wholeheartedly investing yourself (not just a talent or skill) into something to ensure that it is a success. It means intentional commitment, vulnerability, and relationship.

Maybe the difference between try and do is simply a matter of semantics and personal meaning. Either way, I spend a lot of my life "trying" things. And it's great to try things because you learn about what you like and don't like and what you're good at and what you stink at with no strings attached. But there comes a point when trying silently becomes a cover-up for fear and discontent. 

Sometimes, trying can keep us on the run so we never really have to settle down nor do we have to lend time to cultivating things that we are capable of doing and are even called to do. Trying opens the door to the kind of busyness that lets us hide the fact that we are stuck in a endless cycle of striving, proving, or performance. Trying requires less patience and waiting that the commitment of doing requires. And trying breeds a spirit of discontent where we are always waiting for the right thing, the big thing, the best thing, the once-in-a-lifetime thing to come along that we become blinded to all that is sitting right in front of us.

It's time to stop trying and to start doing...to claim the things that I know are true, to step out in surety that God is leading the way, and to settle down long enough (in mind, body, and spirit) to let God work both in me and through me. Can't help but wonder what a difference it would make to my family and friends (and yes, even my church) if I stopped trying and started doing and in doing, give them something that is more substantial, meaningful, and life-giving than a "leaky, rusted-out bucket" (see Haggai 1:5-7 below).

"And then a little later, God-of-the-Angel-Armies spoke out again: “Take a good, hard look at your life. Think it over. You have spent a lot of money, but you haven’t much to show for it. You keep filling your plates, but you never get filled up. You keep drinking and drinking and drinking, but you’re always thirsty. You put on layer after layer of clothes, but you can’t get warm. And the people who work for you, what are they getting out of it? Not much—a leaky, rusted-out bucket, that’s what. That’s why God-of-the-Angel-Armies said: “Take a good, hard look at your life. Think it over.” Haggai 1:5-7

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

*Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes.  No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart.  To find out more, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/.  This week's word is "TRY".