Looking outside yesterday, I caught the first glimpse of red gold in our maple tree. This tree always reminds me that I am truly glad to be schooling at home. The changing leaves tell me that the yellow bus will soon pass our house while my children sip cocoa and cuddle on the couch.
This year I have some extra joy in beginning the school season. This summer my dear hubby, sons, and father-in law built a school room. Three generations of Bullock “men” stood side by side making this homeschool mom very happy about her new space. The freshly painted walls are lined with bookshelves, desks, maps, and educational games. It has been fun to organize the room in anticipation. Our youngest son set up his little work space and proceeded to do “math” just for the fun of it. I smiled.
A non homeschooling friend recently visited and she mildly chided my enthusiasm. My unabashed excitement for homeschooling tickled her. Surely my response would have been more appropriate for a hot tub, or new master bedroom, she thought. But then again we are a little odd to be teaching our children at home anyway. How long are we going to keep at it? Our oldest is in high school now. Don’t I miss time alone?
I explained again that this is what we feel God wants us to do for our family. Yes, we do things a bit differently from the mainstream but we are unashamed to do so. Private Christian home education is part of the distinctive calling that makes our family unique.
The Book of Jeremiah records a story of a family that had distinctives that made them unique as well. Through them God displayed the simplicity of obedience. I feel for poor Jeremiah, last prophet to stubborn Judah. Israel had long ago been judged and taken into captivity for her disobedience. Yet Judah knowingly stood upon the precipice. Each generation had a chance to choose to obey and push judgment back once again, or to disobey and bring it completion.
Jeremiah spoke truth in a world that wanted to be deaf. King Zedekiah burned his copy of a truth filled scroll rather than risk others reading it. Sound familiar? Tear out the truth from school books and court rooms. Let no one hear it! Satan’s tactics have not changed. Unyielding Jeremiah sat down and rewrote the scroll again. He saw the wickedness around him and he was saddened by it, but he would not be moved to change his course. God had called him to do his job as a prophet in this era, and he would follow through.
Do you ever feel that way too, sorrowed by many sins in the world? There are times when I feel confused by the lack of desire to hear truth and be changed by it. It is difficult to contemplate that this is the world my children will live in. In our homeschooling we want to prepare our children to push judgment back as they war for truth by living faithful lives. Their turn in this story is fast approaching.
In chapter 35, God paints a word picture of faithfulness by asking Jeremiah to bring the family of the Recabites into the House of the Lord and place bowls of wine before them to drink. It was a test. When they were presented the wine they refused it, stating that it is not their “family way” to drink. The Recabites faithfully followed the commands of their forefather Jonadab by abstaining from drink, and by living like nomads in tents. Even when asked by a godly prophet in the house of the Lord they did not waver.
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah and said to go and say to the people of Judah, “Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?...Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you….but you have not paid attention or listen to me…” (vs 13-16)
Can you hear the Lord’s heart cry? The Recabites obeyed the commands of their forefathers, mere men. Judah disobeyed the commands of her God. The Recabites obeyed. Judah rebelliously disobeyed. Compare and contrast the results.
God brought the promised judgment because, “…I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.” (vs17) The Lord then prompts Jeremiah to speak on His behalf to the family of Recab. Because of their obedience and faithfulness “Jonadab son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve me.” (vs 19) Another translation states, that Recab will never fail to “have a man stand before me.” What a promise! If there is one thing I want for my family it is this. I want my loved ones to stand before the Lord as His in the circle of faithful.
This family followed through on the directions they had been given by a wise forefather. They kept their distinctives, what made them who they were. They were not amalgamated into the disobedient culture around them. Was it cumbersome to live as nomads, probably? No doubt they were tempted to move into more permanent housing like everyone else in the city. Was it less entertaining to abstain from alcohol, maybe? Surely there were those who seemed unaffected by it. But the Recabites refused to give in to any compromise.
There are times when homeschooling may seem cumbersome, a heavy burden that so few seem to bear. The old brick and mortar down the street, with playgrounds and gyms beckon while my kids run through the house yet again for recess. Sometimes there are things that seem a lot more entertaining to do than teaching phonics or math facts again to a youngster. All those other moms at the coffee chats seem to think things are okay for their children in school all day.
But catch the blessing here. This blessed distinctive of faithfully discipling our children at home can come with great rewards. It is the nature of God to reward the faithful little steps we make, just as He rewarded the Recabites. Our Lord never fails to notice obedience. In fact He uses it to testify about Himself to the world. New school room or not, I’m thankful we are educating at home.
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