The young mom could barely contain the weight of disappointment. It hung heavy on her shoulders, heavier on her heart. Visible. So many things cancelled. So many things shifted and changed. She didn’t want to homeschool her children, but her toe-dip into the online version of school she suffered through last spring was less than ideal. Her options here felt less like choices and more like surrender.
Reality is hard and unexpected sometimes.
I could tell her it will be okay because it likely will. We all know how easily molehills become momentary mountains. But it also feels like a limp handshake to offer her, to offer anyone, right about now. I get the irony of that metaphor – handshakes, even limp ones, are likewise cancelled.
I could tell her to keep her chin up, to tighten her ponytail and carry on, to bootstrap her brave and just hold on tight a little while longer. But a courage that is based on us, based on our ability to fix and adapt and hold on, is no courage at all.
Every single one of us should know that by now. Bizarre viruses are scary. A world suddenly masked and distanced is scary. The teetering scales and potential outcomes of an upcoming election is scary. The unknown is scary.
And at some point, our brave gets tired. I get that. We all get that.
This week I found myself in Romans 4, Paul’s recounting of Abraham’s life. We’re all familiar with Abraham, right? Married to Sarah. The promised father of many nations. And yet growing old without a single heir.
Through Abraham’s story, Paul reminds us that Abraham’s God is the one, “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (v.17)
Don’t rush past that, friend. Yes, you, living in the Plan B or C or D. Mama, student, teacher, disappointed as we embark on what feels as though it might be a dead end year.
Is Abraham’s God ours as well?
When we dissect Abraham’s story a bit, we can see that he had a real choice here. He was living amidst circumstances that looked nothing like what he wanted, what he hoped for, or even what he had been promised. He was getting dead-old and so was his barren wife. That was his reality. But Paul tells us “In hope he believed against all hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told.” (v.18)
Verse 19 goes on to say, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (v.19-21)
That is a hefty passage there, friend, but it has some incredible insight into Abraham’s heart and I think it can serve us well here.
First of all, Abraham was not an idiot. He was not naive or ignorant concerning the reality of his situation. He wasn’t pacifying himself with distraction or unrealistic about the state of things. He saw his circumstances with clarity, but he also saw His God, knew God’s character, with certainty.
He gave glory here. Abraham knew exactly how big and powerful his God was. He knew He was Sovereign, knew He was immutable and knew His promises were true, so in the midst of difficult circumstances he resisted bitterness and glorified God. And his faith grew only stronger.
The passage says he was fully convinced God was able. Abraham is living the definition of faith – “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
This is was the very key to Abraham’s courage – not his grit, but his God.
Oh friend, we are rich in the land of opportunity with our kids – elementary students to college students. The circumstantial evidence for frustration is rampant and you don’t have to reach far to find a friend that will help you feed the fear and frustration that is just below the surface.
But as my pastor said on Sunday, you may be masked, but you are not blindfolded. Let’s have the courage to see this season for what it is. This is an opportunity to teach our kids in real time what it means to live by faith rather than fear – to have an Abraham like faith – glorifying God, fully convinced that the One who promised is faithful.
This school year may very well seem less than ideal. The circumstantial evidence for a dead end may very well be mounting, but it doesn’t have to shake us, even for a second, because we know who God is and what He has promised for those who love him.
We know Him, friend. And that should changes us. Change our words, change our actions, change our hearts.
The other day I spent some time wondering, thinking about all this year might mean for the history books and for our kids and I began to wonder:
- What if this is the year our kids learned patience and faithfulness?
- What if this is the year they really begin to grasp gentleness and self-control?
- What if this season is the one in which they understand a joy that lasts even when you don’t get what you want?
- What if they learned a love that is stronger that circumstances?
- What if they came to know what kindness really is?
- What if they learned real fruit – often the best fruit – grows in hard places?
- What if they began to trust God anew or even for the first time?
- What if they learned to fear Him alone here?
- What if this year they figured out that ingenuity is born in hard places, creativity breeds in tough times, resourcefulness, perseverance and patience are all built in challenging spaces?
This is unique and new and important ground, friend. There is so incredibly much for our children to learn here. And what if, mama, what if, we were the ones to teach it to them?
Whether you are homeschooling, schooling at home, schooling online or I’m-not-even-sure-what-to-call-this schooling, this is not a dead end. This is a huge opportunity, friend.
May we never fail to see it as such. <3
