Yesterday, it seemed all my kids did was pester, annoy, gripe at and even fight with each other!  Impossible, you say!  MY PERFECT KIDS????  Yes, those kids.

Well, God always has a "good word" for us, for every situation.  After all, He is Truth, right? 

So this morning, on the Verse of the Day, which I love and am thankful for, here was "our" word.

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good;  and an evil man out of the evil treasure of this heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks."   Luke 6:45.

So t'was our Bible Verse "formal" lesson for today.  We find these lessons everywhere, everyday, but there are many times when you have to sit down and listen to what God is speaking to you about.

First of all, I print out the verse, write it on the white board (ooh, just like PS!)  and I also make them a fill- in -the-blank form, and leave a space for a picture to be drawn.  That way each level of ability has something they can do.  (my kids are 7,9,11, and 13)

Then, we get out Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary out, and look up some of the words, like "abundance."  Lo and Behold, our verse is mentioned there!  If you don't have this dictionary, I implore you, don't homeschool with out it!  And, you can find it on my links list.

So we read the verse, we talk about it, everyone says what they think it means, etc.  It is a very natural way to learn, BUT I always find out more than I planned to try to teach.  Isn't that they way homeschooling always is.

While we were talking, the kids were either writing the verse out, filling in missing words, or drawing something that depicted the truth of the scripture.

The neat thing is that it finally boiled down to this lesson:

God's Word is the seed of truth, that becomes planted in our hearts.  Other seeds (evil) can become planted there too---either by choice or by default.  We need to make sure we don't allow the bad seeds, the Bible even refers to the tares many times in the parables---to be planted there.  So, The truth (Jesus) is planted.  God's word also pollinates OUR words, which are planted elsewhere, and as they are nurtured, can bear the fruit of the Spirit.  Before you can harvest them, you have to water them, with more of God's word, you must weed out the "tares."  and they must have plenty of "Son-shine."  More of the things to make the seed grow, everything that Christ is in us.

Of course, this lesson is not just for the kids, it is for you and I.  What have you planted in your heart today?  This week?  This month?  You know what happens to a seed if you plant it and then walk away.  It will not grow.  You must tend it.

Just one more little sprout of love from God, turning in to a life lesson that will grow, and grow and grow!

Nancy