Some days everything seems a little easy. The day begins, the pain is at bay, the coffee and learning seems to just flow nicely. Then there are other days that feel somewhat monotonous like we have Groundhog Day ON REPEAT. Then there are even harder days. There have been dark days that have swirled around me like some kind of whirlwind and I have wanted to be enveloped by sleep or straight out resignation.
What I've learned from homeschooling for the past 13 years is that we are doing life together. And life is full of different feelings, seasons and circumstances. All of these can be moments of learning if we are open to it. Since homeschooling, we've experienced seasons of illness, pregnancy, birth, sleep deprivation (that lasted years), multiple diagnoses that we've had to get our heads around, navigating therapies, a redundancy, packing up and moving house, rebuilding of said house, marriage struggles, a business that we built and had to close, a bad back that made me immobile for a while, issues within our extended family and much, much more. We are not special: this is just what life often looks like for people.
The reason I'm saying this is because I think we need to cut ourselves some slack and allow life to be our teacher. Through each of these situations, I've had the chance to model attitudes to my kids (trust me - they haven't always been the right ones but even then there have been lessons all 'round!)
Grief, disappointments, difficulty, broken relationships, sickness, hurt and pain give us a chance to teach our children HOW to handle these things when they pop up in our lives in the present (AND for their future lives too).
We get to show them ways to communicate well, to advocate for themselves, to speak out against injustice, that it's cathartic to mourn, how to pray and really care for others like Jesus did. I think they have been able to learn how to have a good work ethic and be a part of a team, how to dig deep when times are tough and how to be resourceful. I trust that they have been able to see how to add and look for little moments of joy along the way. I hope they have witnessed that seasons of life flow and that the hard times don't last forever.
Through doing life together, I hope my children have lived and learned how to be empathetic, compassionate people, sympathetic to others in similar situations.
So if you are in a tough season right now when the baby won't sleep, the family feels fractured, the money is tight, the pain is high, the tears flow frequently and you are worried that life isn't all that it's cracked up to be (or that your kids are going to be ruined by it all), just think about this post and the fact that my family has been there too. Know that I'm praying for you, friend, and hoping that even just reading this makes you feel less alone and less guilty.
Let it go and may you have the Help this day to get through knowing that even the hard seasons and the broken pieces can be useful.
Much love,
Lusi x