Some encouragement

*Originally posted on January 31, 2008

One of our dear friends has this convicting question posted in their home:

Is what I'm doing, or about to do, getting me closer to my objective... of hearing from Jesus, "Well done my good and faithful servant..."?

This brought me to thinking through some things:

Number one: is my #1 objective to hear from Jesus "well done good and faithful servant"? If not, I need to rearrange my priorities and objectives in my life.

Number two: the only way I know what God's will is, is to actively seek it in His Word... am I entrenched in His Word enough to know for sure what He's called me to do while I'm here on Earth? If not, I'm just using human reasoning, and we know from Prov. 16:25 that "there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end, it leads to death".

Number three: if my priorities in life are set-up to achieve my objective, and if I'm reading the Bible so that I know what His will for my life is... am I being obedient?

Hmmmm... good thoughts!

On another note, we're currently reading through Charlotte Mason's Volume 3 in our book club... I just LOVE those ladies in book club!!! They are so insightful, encouraging, and most of all... they value raising their children in the most Godly way possible. Back to Volume 3, Miss Mason is teaching on how to have docility in the home. I first had to look up what docility meant:

~Ready and willing to be taught; teachable.
~Yielding to supervision, direction, or management; tractable.

Don't we all want that in our children's hearts? :) She goes on to stress the importance of good and loving authority... not arbitrary or autocratic. It was all very convicting and encouraging! Here is my favorite line from Chapter II, Page 24:

"Authority is that aspect of love which parents present to their children; parents know it is love, because to them it means continual self-denial, self-repression, self-sacrifice; children recognise it as love, because to them it means quiet rest and gaiety of heart. Perhaps the best aid to the maintenance of authority in the home is for those in authority to ask themselves daily that question which was presumptuously put to our Lord-"Who gave Thee this authority?"

Miss Mason sure hits the nail on the head! I have learned so much from her and when I apply those principals to our homeschool... the outcome, with God's blessing, is docility in the girls' hearts. I'm still working on my role as their authority... it's just a tough job to do it correctly, but thank God that I have Him as my authority. He's the perfect Father to me... I just need to have His character when it comes to raising my children with Godly authority. (easier said than done, right?!) :)

Have a blessed day!