Before I was a mother, I never imagined I’d hear myself say these things, but, surprisingly, they did come from my mouth:
“Sweetie, please get your toe out of the baby’s mouth.”
“Why are you putting noodles in my sock?”
“Son, don’t pick your nose with the lizard’s tail!”
ME: “What are you doing?” Toddler: “Washing my toes.” ME: “Why are you washing your toes in your milk?” Toddler: “Because they’re dirty brown and the milk is white.” Well, of course, I should have known that! I only hope that toddler didn’t drink the stuff afterwards! I am glad my memory fails me.
My heart is larger because of the big joys of my little people! And, these days, it’s not just little ones that add humor to my day. Those middles and teens are also great for giving me belly aches of laughing.
But, how do homeschooling and humor coincide?
One of the blessings of being home with your children is that you see their funny little personalities develop. They are not squashed or shushed as they would be in a school environment. You can even have a class full of clowns and still have learning take place. You laugh and learn together. A little humor from you will also go a long way to diffuse a situation and draw hearts back together. I know that if we’ve laughed together, then we’ve had a moment of memorable, loving relationship.
If we don’t see the humor in our homeschooling days, then we might be left in the kind of tears that did not come from laughter. I know those days very well. So, on those days when you just want to cry, do so. But in your crying, cry out to the Lord Who Hears. He is close to the broken-hearted and wants you to stay close to Him. Don’t cry out to others before you cry out to your Savior. Man cannot do what only God can.
Recently, I had to choose joy as I cleaned up a child’s mess in the bathroom. It was splattered all over the place (and that’s as detailed as I want to get) so that I had to spray the entire bathroom down with bleach and then get on my knees and scrub it all clean. There was an “aha” moment when I realized that this was very similar to getting on my knees in prayer for my kids and their various kinds of messes in life. And although mom’s prayers can be a tearful, messy job, our God hears and answers and honors those prayers from the trenches of motherhood, and washes our hearts clean through His Word. This is the crux where tears are turned to joy because we have given God our cares and we get up and walk out this day in faith and victory. When we walk in the joy of praise and thanksgiving, we have defeated our enemy and have even more cause to rejoice.
In my early, more stress filled days of homeschooling, I remember reading in Psalms that the Lord causes even a barren woman to be a “joyful mother of children” and I remember thinking, “Joyful? That’s not what I am seeing. Lord, open my eyes to the joy.” If you are finding more tears than laughter at your house, try a new approach to choosing joy. Get on your knees, ask the Lord for a new perspective–for eyes that really see, and then get up and look for the joy.
Rejoice! You are among the privileged that get to have their children Home Where They Belong.
~Deborah
dwuehler@theoldschoolhouse.com
