Tucking Away the Joy and Rewards

There are certain moments along this parenting and homeschooling journey that I, like Mary, treasure away in my heart.  Earlier this week, in our discussion of A Tale of Two Cities, I had such a moment with my teens that just made my heart glad and gave me the encouragement and strength to persevere through another year.  I share this on my blog to help me remember it.

The literature guide we are using asked the question:

Sometimes it is very difficult to see beyond a person's outward appearance.  At the end of Chapter 20, Darnay offers his view of Sydney Carton, but Lucie seems to see more clearly into Carton's secret heart.

Read Matthew 7:1-5 and James 4:11,12.  What do these verses teach us about judging others?  Philippians 2:1-4.  According to these verses, how should we regard others?

We had so much fun when we realized we didn't need to open our Bibles to read these passages because by working together we could quote them.  This led us to a discussion of the Jews in concentration camps who reportedly compiled Scriptures they had hidden in their minds and hearts when they had no access to written Scriptures, and then we segued to a discussion of the importance of continuing to memorize Scripture ourselves as we don't know what the future holds in this increasingly anti-Christian world we live in.

Home educating our children is frequently a scary journey, fraught with uncertainty and insecurity about adequately preparing our children.  But in moments like these, I feel the Lord is giving me hope and encouragement not to grow weary as He gives me a peek at the fruit He is growing.

Regardless of whatever else did or did not get accomplished this week (or cleaning up peed pants, monitoring disagreements, compelling children to clean up messes, getting frustrated with a child who simply cannot pronounce the 'r' sound, etc), this moment made the week a success to me.