Daily Focus - July 2009

"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

My six-year-old son came running up to me with crocodile tears in his eyes and cried, "Mommy, I can't find my favorite car! Can you please help me?" Walking with him into the living room, we proceeded to look for his favorite toy race car that he had just received for his birthday. However, our efforts were to no avail, as it was not to be found anywhere. I saw the anxious look on his face and knew we had to do something. Taking him by the hand, we sat down together on the couch and prayed. ...

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One day I found my son sobbing in a tree in our backyard. He had just experienced a heartbreaking loss, and there were no words to comfort him. Twenty of his twenty-five chickens had been killed by our outside farm dog. Only eight short weeks ago, we had brought them home as a school project. Faithfully, he had raised them from small, fluffy yellow chicks to the young, white-feathered chickens that loved to sit in his arms. He had made a roost and a special feeder for them and was just beginning to enjoy gathering one or two eggs per day.  ...

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In the 1930s, Dawson Trotman founded The Navigators ministry with the belief that everyone who is born into God's family is to multiply. Though Trotman started by sharing his faith with just one sailor, by the end of World War II, thousands of men on ships around the world had learned about Christ and were actively sharing their faith. Being saved himself from a life of drunkenness and corruption, Trotman believed if a person would lead someone to Christ every six months and disciple him until he led another person to Christ, within fifteen years over two billion people would be living for the Lord. Billy Graham preached at his funeral in 1956 and said, "I think Dawson Trotman has personally touched more lives [for Christ's sake] than anybody I have ever known." Quite a statement coming from a man whose gospel message of salvation has since been preached to millions!...

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It was just a little thing, really. I mean, who would have ever thought a little bird could make such a difference in all our lives? But he did.

He was a red-winged blackbird that always greeted us sitting on the same stop sign whenever we drove to town. Because of the brilliant, red plumage on his wings and the location of his unusual home, we began to refer to this new friend as Mr. Stop. The joyful song he sang encouraged our family each time we passed his home, but it was the simple faithfulness of his presence that left a profound impression on the minds of my young children. Mr. Stop was always there protecting his nest and gathering food for his wife and family....

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Did you imagine your role as a homeschooling mother to be quiet and obscure? Did you picture yourself being behind the scenes and working as a support person only? Nothing could be further from the truth! Every time someone asks where your children go to school, you are immediately thrust into the spotlight, facing an endless barrage of questions....

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Teaching our young children to dress themselves in the morning takes patience. We painstakingly wait as they learn to manipulate buttons, zippers, and shoelaces. However, by far the most agonizing aspect of the morning ritual of getting dressed is the statement, "I can't find anything to wear." As mothers, we realize this statement doesn't mean there is nothing in the drawers and closets, nor does it mean your child has not looked hard enough. What they really are saying is they think the clothes available to them are not good enough for them to wear....

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Somewhere in the middle of my homeschooling experience, I made the mistake of measuring what activities we would or wouldn't do by the mess involved. I had lost the spontaneous joy of having fun on a child's level and saw those messy learning times as one big chore. Perhaps I lost the joy because I was so tired physically or maybe because I was lazy. Either case, I deprived my children of many enjoyable experiences simply because I didn't want to make a mess....

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"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).

The red flags were all there. As a homeschooling parent, you would have thought I would have seen the little signs much sooner — struggling in daily work but getting straight "A's" on quizzes and tests, erased answers on tests, the desire to correct their own work, and teacher keys in the wrong place on the shelf. My trust in my children blinded me to the fact that they ever would succumb to the temptation to take the easy way out and cheat. It was a sad day when I found out the truth....

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