Students As Teachers
Ray and I came to North Carolina to teach and encourage. As so often happens, the student became the teacher. Yesterday we were in Raleigh at a homeschool bookstore called the Homeschool Gathering Place. Chris Howard, a handsome, well-spoken, and enthusiastic homeschooled high schooler, took many photos. Here’s one from the afternoon session.
Chris became my teacher as he gave me great photography tips. Now, if someone could just teach me to keep my eyes open.
After the evening session, a mother lingered to talk about some of her homeschooling concerns. I’ll call her Natalie. Again I became the student as Natalie shared her heart with me. She told me that her husband works twelve hours a day, six days a week and that she wants to be sure she is honoring him by the job she is doing while he is away, because he trusts her with their children.
Natalie went on to tell me about her grandmother, “God rest her blessed soul.” She was the mother of fifteen and had forty grandchildren. Natalie said that her grandmother knew all their names and they all knew that they would receive a Christmas present from their grandmother: panties for the girls; socks for the boys. When Natalie visited her grandmother, she would look at her watch after a couple of hours and tell Natalie that she should go home to her husband. By words and life, this grandmother taught Natalie the importance of her own marriage and the importance of Natalie’s.
Natalie wants to honor her husband. She learned that from her grandmother. I learned it again from Natalie.
The heart of her husband trusts in her.
Proverbs 31:11
As homeschool moms, we can become even more wrapped up in our children than “regular” mothers. How easy it is to put our husbands and their needs on the back burner. We do our children, ourselves, our marriages, and our witness a great disservice by not honoring our husbands and giving them their rightful place. May God help us to keep a healthy balance in our homes and make time every day to SHOW love to the one we promised to honor and cherish all the days of our lives.
I received my Tx Homeschool Review today. While looking through it, to my delight, I found your article. It was such a good lesson on not comparing ourselves to others that young moms, especially, need but anyone needs at any age.
I also sang a song to my children (and also to the grandchildren) that was like that. It was about God’s loving a person and starting with the child’s name and then singing it over and over again with different family members and sometimes even the dog’s name!
This started in 1974 when our daughter was a baby. Thanks for reminding me of some good memories.