Don’t Be Afraid, Mama.
If I made a list of the top ten most common struggles of homeschooling mamas, fear would definitely make the list. Fear of failure, fear of what people think, fear of not covering everything . . .
Sometimes it seems as though fear is just second nature to us ladies. Maybe it’s second nature to the guys, too, but for us ladies, well . . . you know how we are. Sometimes our fears are just plain silly — like a fear I had when Ray and I first were married. I was afraid to cook spaghetti for company. I was afraid I wouldn’t get the noodles just right. What if they were not done or too mushy?
Spaghetti on drying racks
at the Atlantic Macaroni Company,
Long Island City, New York, 1943,
photo by Marjory Collins,
courtesy Library of Congress
An Italian farm woman
near Providence, Rhode Island
prepares spaghetti, 1940,
photo by Jack Delano,
courtesy Library of Congress
Daughter of a truck gardener
in Portsmouth, Rhode Island,
prepares spaghetti and meatballs, 1940,
photo by Jack Delano,
courtesy Library of Congress
Men on board a fishing boat
out of Gloucester, Massachusetts,
eat large portions of Italian spaghetti, 1943,
photo by Gordon Parks,
courtesy Library of Congress
Cooking spaghetti and frying chicken
for a spaghetti supper at a Grape Festival,
Tontitown, Arkansas, 1941,
courtesy Library of Congress
Spaghetti supper at a Grape Festival,
Tontitown, Arkansas, 1941,
courtesy Library of Congress
Spaghetti? Really? (Or spag-g-g-geti, as we like to call it, because that’s what our little two-year-old friend Bethany — now married and the mother of two — used to call it.) What a silly thing to waste fear on!
We should save those fears for some bigga, bigga problem like whether we’re going to cover everything, right? (Bigga, bigga is another of the Bethanyisms we still quote decades later)
Here’s how I like to encourage homeschooling mamas about that one:
The universe is everything. You’re not going to cover it. So, get over it.
That might sound harsh on paper — or on screen — but, think about it. Everyone has to leave some parts of the universe out of their children’s education. Nobody can cover everything!
An even better idea than saving our fears for bigga, bigga problems is to lay our fears down all together. I’m reminded of one of the kiddie songs we sang at church: “Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There’s nothing our God cannot do.” Maybe we should bring that out of the kiddie classes and teach it to the bigga, bigga folks.
I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34:4
Jesus invites all of the scared mamas, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and He will give us rest.
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
And you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-29