Routines and Flexibility
When we brought our first baby home from the hospital, I remember being sad that newborns sleep so much. I knew I would miss him when he was asleep.
Like other mamas, I learned to enjoy those long sleeps. I learned to appreciate the rest I could have and the tasks I could accomplish when he was sleeping. I also learned to appreciate routines and schedules. However, I never got over enjoying having him around. I still feel that way 41 years later — about him and our daughters, too, and now about their families.
As wonderful and as necessary as routines and schedules are, flexibility is wonderful — and necessary, too — for us mamas. Babies need nursing when they need nursing, changed when they need changed, rocked when they need rocked. What they need from us changes as they grow, but their need to have needs met when the need is there remains.
I admire how Jesus knew exactly when to be flexible and when not to be. Jesus was not flexible about truth.
Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
John 14:6
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him,
“If you continue in My word,
then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32
However, He was flexible about His schedule. He welcomed interruptions. When a house filled to overflowing with folks who wanted to listen to Him or to be healed, He had plenty of time. He never seemed in a rush. I love the story of Jesus going to Jairus’ house for a very important purpose–to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, no less, but He was not too busy, even then, to stop and heal a woman on the way (see Luke 8).
On the other hand, Jesus didn’t let His flexibility keep Him from doing what He came to earth to do. We can see that in this scene from early in His ministry.
In the early morning, while it was still dark,
Jesus got up, left the house,
and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
Simon and his companions searched for Him;
they found Him, and said to Him,
“Everyone is looking for You.”
He said to them,
“Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby,
so that I may preach there also;
for that is what I came for.”
Mark 1:35-38
The balance between routines, on the one hand, and flexibility on the other is a special challenge to homeschooling mamas, but both are essential. May God grant us all wisdom to pick the right one at the right time.
But if any of you lacks wisdom,
let him ask of God,
who gives to all generously and without reproach,
and it will be given to him.
James 1:5