Don’t Conform to the World’s Standards

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We live in a world that presses us into conformity. That’s why I wore go-go boots to junior high every day, and that’s why I embroidered these jeans to wear when I was in high school.

Several years ago, Ray and I did a presentation in several locations in North Carolina. We are sharing another excerpt from that presentation this week. I confess that my jeans are a bit embarrassing. Please have mercy on me and know that I wasn’t making any kind of political statement with these. I was simply being a conforming teenager! Hope it makes you feel better about your own teen idiosyncrasies — and maybe a little more understanding of those of your children! I’ll let you in on another secret. My sweet Mother let me paint one wall in my bedroom with designs very similar to these jeans! When Mother moved in with us four decades later, my artwork was still there. She never painted over it.

 
Here’s the transcript with a Bible verse at the end.

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What did you do to conform? Do your parents have any pictures that make you want to cringe, that you’d like them to burn before your children ever see them?

People like for others to conform because it makes them feel better. The thinking goes something like this: if you are just like I am, then I must be ok. But if you do something different than I do, then you must be judging me. Hey, how dare you!

Have you ever experienced that as a homeschooling mother? Have you ever just met somebody and in the conversation it came up that you homeschool, and they start getting all defensive and act like you are judging them when you never said anything. All you did was exist! And they feel bad.

The norm is for parents to send their kids to public school, but you have decided to break out of the norm. Making that decision was scary, but it was brave.

Your qualifications come from God. If you taught in public school, you would have to meet their qualifications, you would have to be certified, you’d have to be evaluated, you’d have to prove that you measure up.

My friends who are public school teachers in Tennessee are ready to run away from school because they’re just evaluated and evaluated till it isn’t any fun anymore. As a homeschooling parent, you don’t have to worry about that. Your qualifications come from God.

Out of all the people in the history of the world, of all those people, God chose you to be your children’s parents, to be your children’s teachers. He trusts you. He loves you and He loves them, and He would not have given them to you if He didn’t know that you could do this job.

The world says that what really matters for children is what happens in academics, or maybe on the ballfield. But Proverbs encourages people to listen to the teaching of a father and the teaching of a mother. You are teaching your children, and I am so proud of each one of you for doing that.

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My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.
Proverbs 6:20-22

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