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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Our Call

A Personal Philosophy of Education


What mother doesn’t long for the best for her child?  Even a broken woman, torn by her own reality, makes heart wrenching decisions for what she believes, at the time, to be “best” for her kids; no matter what the cost to herself, her body or her heart.  Often, bearing unnecessarily, the burdens and guilt from the entanglements of the world she has misunderstood, and under-estimated.  Attempting to be all they told her she had to be, which has produced an independence far too deep to receive the help she desperately needs and is too afraid to ask for, for fear she will become undone.  For fear that they will know she can’t handle what she’s eaten - but they already know, it was by design - and the help we all need is at the foot of the cross.

We, mothers, sisters, daughters, were each uniquely gifted with a God given ability to protect and nurture our children.  We are given all the tools, held in our hearts to do what needs to be done for our families, whether seen yet or not.  Sure, habits are taught or caught, however a few things always emerge head and shoulders above all else.  We all want our children to fare better than we did.  We long for better opportunities, more organization and the strength, that deep down we know we’ve lacked.

What if I told you we could discover or rediscover these gifts and hand these tools to our kids?  What if I told you we have only one shot at partnering with God to break up the fallow ground of our children’s delicate hearts and minds, in order to receive the Truth of God’s word?  What if I said that ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, that is void of God’s word, said to build virtue and integrity into your child is in vain?  What if I said that the virtue and integrity our society and schools offer is cloaked in apathy, passivity, and a belief that co-existence is the answer to peace and prosperity?  What if I told you that your “well-rounded” child, that you are working so hard to give all you believe they need to survive, is eating all they need to be devoured at the same time?  What if I told you that it is a goal of our society to groom our children to be blind to every real danger that truly exists and they don’t even know it?

Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

2 Peter 5:8 
This world is ruled by the enemy of our souls, he is doomed to an eternity in hell and is looking to take as many people with him as he can.  Our only hope to see his schemes is to have the Spirit of God working in us to open our eyes and ears to the danger that lies in seemingly “innocent” places, in all this world offers.  We have the opportunity to provide our children with the necessary shelter they need to grow up in the grace and understanding, through God’s Word, of the reality of our world and our place in it.

Mothers, we have a call, it is to teach our kids. We must not continue allow, the church to give them God, the school to give them academia and us to simply cloth.  This way of thinking has produced dead fruit.  We must enter into that which God has blessed us with and boldly by power of God, step out of the society norm.  We have been tangled up in the proving of ourselves for far too long.  We are being set up to fail our kids.  They need us to love them with the sacrificial love of Christ.  We must choose to give up what this world and our own minds have told us we “need” to do in order to make a difference and see that it is empty.  We must take a look at our lives and be willing to see the nature of our depravity.  

Oswald Chambers writes:
The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute.  Until we get there, our Lord is powerless.  He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves.  We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution.  As long as we are “rich”, particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us.  It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit.

We need to pursue the things of God’s, grabbing hold of the hand of Jesus allowing, His Spirit to renew our minds through the truth of His word, re-establishing our role as a woman, wife, mother as He defines us.  We need to be willing to lay down our lives and schedules for our children.  Not in the world’s busyness that means nothing, running ragged here and there, but in realizing that the pursuit of the world is a rejection of God.  

Let us unite together in prayer; Let us bind together clinging to the promises of God Word; Let us accept the highest call, to which no-one else was given, teaching our children how to think godly; Let’s be used to take back the ground for which the enemy and our own deprived hearts have allowed to be stolen; Let’s trust God for the work to be done as we die to the independence we are being suffocated by; Let us stand, by the grace and mercy of our God, united in His Spirit, to teach our kids about Jesus; Let’s open our hearts to the truth of God’s Word in order to pour into our kids as the Spirit of God pours into us; Let’s occupy our posts.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing.  But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.  Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Proverbs 31:30-31
We can no longer afford to continue to be eaten up with the fear of wondering if we’re doing enough…asking other mom’s, finding that they are dealing with the same things, which provides us with false moments of rest, believing it’s normal for our kids to be heading in directions other than the one we say we are . . . our kids are being led to slaughter, together, as a whole. Let’s stand; Let’s learn; Let’s teach; Let’s love with the Love, displayed on the Cross; Let’s open our eyes to see what our society is choosing, for what God says it really is; Let’s be willing to give our kids the only truth that will save them by rejecting what the world says is normal.

Not only was the teacher wise, (she) he taught the people knowledge, yes (she) he pondered and sought our many proverbs.  The teacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright-Words of Truth.  The words of the wise are like goads and the words of Scholars are like well driven nails, given by One Shepherd . . . of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 

by Beth Robertson, November 28, 2011

Miss Stella sees this article as a baseline philosophy for what Constellation Academy is all about, so of course, it needed to be our opening post.  Because it reflects our unified stance on education and home schooling, we keep it permanently accessible as one of our page tabs above. 


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this art work....very inviting for promising young parents!!! great work girls!!!!

Anonymous said...

What an inviting cover page....something eye catching for promising young parents!!! Will be joining all of you in prayer for what God has already planned!!!

Janettessage.blogspot.com said...

Well what an opening for me to read. I have now home schooled for 23 years, graduated four from home school education, have one in the public school this year (a first for our family of six kids) and home schooling number six at home..he is five. So I nodded my head through out this article and I can just say a resounding - Amen and blessings as God extends His hand in the venture.

Crown of Beauty said...

Hi, this post is such a shining gem in the dark world of humanist education.

I agree with everything written here, and the Oswald Chambers post is so timely. He's a favorite of mine.

I believe in homeschooling. My three children all went to a homeschooling concept school, which I headed for eighteen years. It was such a blessing to educate children in a homeschool setting, with moms from our church serving as volunteers on the teaching staff.

Praying for God's rich blessings on this noble undertaking.

Blessings,
Lidia

Bonita said...

Thank you for alerting me to your blog, Kathryn. It's beautiful!

TRUTH SHARER said...

What a small world this is, Kathryn. I just met you at church on Sunday and here I read that my friend, Lidj [Lidia] all the way from the Philippines has commented on your blog! She and I both lost our husbands at nearly the same time and we have been blogging friends for nearly 4 years. {Hi to you Lidj - if you happen to read this again}!

Looks like a very good informational website for homeschooling. We must "home school our children spiritually" so they can become the tools and shining lights in God's kingdom agenda.

I hope to come to the star gazing night.

Choosing Joy,
Stephanie