July 2004

Watering Again

Living in a house without an automatic sprinkler system has been an eye-opening experience for me.  It has made me realize just how often grass needs watered.  And it’s helped me learn the hard way that grass will simply die without a continual water supply.

  As I watched the sprinkler the other day, it occurred to me that, much like grass, we continually need water.  We need watered each and every moment of our lives.  We need to draw from God’s Living Water—His life.  Only as we continually draw from Christ His life and strength will we be able to grow strong amid the scorching heat and searing winds of life.

  Are you drawing from Christ, your Living Water, today?  Or are you trying to live on your own?  God’s life and strength awaits you.  Let Him water your soul over and over again each day.

Yesterday

Helen’s face displayed her dismay and alarm as she pulled in her driveway after a two week vacation.  The once well-maintained lawn looked like an overgrown pile of weeds.  What had happened to her grandson—hadn’t he looked after the house like he’d promised?

Things didn’t look any better inside.  Dirty dishes filled up every inch of the kitchen countertop.  Rotting food lay unattended on the table.  Books and dirty clothes lay strewn across the floors.  None of the beds were made.  It looked like nothing had been done in weeks to clean or maintain the home.

Helen finally located her grandson reclining in one of the lounge chairs out back.  He greeted her lackadaisically.  “Home already?  Did you have a nice trip?”

Helen simply stared at him for a moment while she collected her thoughts and steadied her voice.  “The house—John, didn’t you do anything?”

John shrugged his shoulders lazily.  “What was there to do?”

“The dishes, for one thing,” Helen suggested.

John smiled.  “Oh, those?  Well, I did them the first couple of days, but then I stopped.  After all, I’d just done them yesterday.”

“And the yard, the wash, the straightening--”

“I stopped those too since I’d done them the day before.  I worked hard the first few days, honest I did.  Not one house could have been cleaner, nor one yard better tended.  After that, I just figured I could sit back and enjoy life.  I told myself I took care of everything yesterday.”

Helen wasn’t sure whether she should laugh or cry or scream.  She finally chose a different response altogether.  “John,” she said in a very serious tone, “look around at this house.  Look at the filthy kitchen and the cluttered floors.  It will take us weeks to get this house livable again.  You can’t live in yesterday.  It doesn’t matter how wonderful a job you did yesterday.  What matters is how you are living today.”

Countdown to a new school year—are you ready?

Another school year is just around the corner.  Are you ready?  Have you chosen and ordered this year’s curriculum?  Have you scheduled all the extracurricular activities your children will be involved with this coming year? 

  Whether you feel ready to get back to school or not, I have something I would like you to consider.  Homeschooling is more than academics and activities.  Homeschooling is a lifestyle.  It’s a living classroom 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.  Homeschooling is a continual opportunity to learn from God and to impress God’s love upon your children.

  God is concerned about our hearts and the hearts of our children, not whether our children know their science facts or use the best curriculum possible.  So as you seek to prepare for the fall, ask God to prepare your heart to listen and learn from Him every day.  Then you will be really ready. 

Come Unto Me

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