Last spring we had tried repeatedly to coax our new hennies to venture outdoors. They’d spent their short lives huddled under a warming lamp and were afraid of anything but their gloomy four walls. Staying cooped up weakens their health. They were late in maturing, they ought to have be laying by then. We were hungry for noodles.
I had their permission to lure them as far as the door, those days.
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. James 5:7b-8
English: Jesus of patience, the work of Pablo de Rojas (XVI) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Faking patience. Our own thinking tells us, of course, the lack of affliction causes us to act patient.
That is true.
And as long as all we are concerned with is acting the part, a lack of affliction will suffice.
True patience. The Word of God has a different take on it.
God says we need affliction, troubles, problems, even suffering, in order to learn true patience.
Fake patience will evaporate in any trial. And trials will come.
You know it, too: No pain, no gain, right?
James uses the farmer to illustrate the necessity of waiting and the reward for patience.
When a farmer plants his seeds, he knows that he will have to work and wait before he will see the fruit of his labor. First he tills the ground. Then he plants seed and prays for rain. In a few days he sees something coming up through the ground.
What would you think of a farmer who harvested his crop after those few days’ growth? Would he have anything worth eating or selling?
No, he needs to wait more, be more patient. He wants a strong, mature crop. That takes time. He has to work—tilling, weeding, irrigating—and wait until the process is complete. If he harvests too early, he will ruin it.
Farmers must be patient.
Parents must be patient too. The first nine months seem to go forever. It’s a difficult wait, but a good chance to do the work of accumulating baby supplies. The next few hours of working and waiting for deliver to be over can seem like forever, too. We do warp time, don’t we!
But immediately after that all waiting is over, right? Wrong.
It’s time for a different time warp.
Parents work for years, caring for a child and instilling in him the training, discipline and encouragement he needs to mature enough to survive on his own.
Sometimes it seems like one step forward and two steps back.
It’s that way for every parent. Do not think for one minute that if you ditch your child, you will relieve yourself of the waiting, of the work of learning patience.
Yes, child-rearing takes patience. In the same way, our Father is patiently training, disciplining, encouraging, and maturing us through our afflictions to be more like Jesus.
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4
As we anticipate the rewards of patience, we can endure whatever happens in our lives. We can cope when we remember that heaven is forever and earth is passing. When the ground is shaking all around us and we are tempted to despair, we know God loves us and is with us. We can be patient because we know Jesus will come again and all bad things in life will finally be set right.
We do not merit any blessing from God, regardless of our personal right-doings. All blessings come from God’s mercy, and without God’s mercy and compassion toward us, we would be at Satan’s pleasure all the time and life on earth would be like Hell.
Same for our children. We love them and show them compassion, supplying their every need, for no reason other than our loving mercy. When we do not, their lives are like hell.
Never forget that
If we want the blessing of whole adult offspring, we must humble ourselves and patiently endure the working and waiting.
Most people today are characterized by impatience and love of ease. They are motivated by immediate and shallow rewards. They seem unwilling to work and wait. They are lured by lottery, credit card debt, and get-rich-quick schemes. They look to preachers who will feed this attitude, teaching Godliness as a means of gain. They have itching ears.
Quitting seems easier.
We should work and wait for the autumn rains. Really.
Don’t quit.
Especially do not quit on your family.
Large, violent tornadoes can cause catastrophic damage when striking populated areas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With all the tornados floating around lately, come many more words about tornados. It’s a real storm out there and I’d like to add to the din.
I wrote a couple of years ago about my close call with a really big, destructive tornado. People like to read about these events. Not just y’all; I read these stories too.
As I was re-reading some of these writings today, I noticed something. I think the events that shape our lives prepare us for living a successful life in the end. I think we can look back on our childhoods and see how God was preparing us to face our future.
If we pay attention . . .
One thing in particular that stood out for me, as I read these old stories today was this: It was no time for hurt feelings.
Not then; not now.
I wrote about my six-year-old self:
I knew it was a tornado up there, whatever a tornado was. I looked up, too, and stumbled.
Mom scolded me sharply. “Don’t look up! Don’t look up! Don’t look up!” She seldom scolded sharply. It hurt my feelings but I knew it was no time for hurt feelings. Her words were like a mantra, a warbled charm against bad omens . . . don’t look up, don’t look up . . .
As I notice the world today, I realize how much I knew back then, and how much my mom knew, and what good I could make of it if I only paid attention and applied it to my current life.
One caveat:
We should look up.
Jesus told us it would get worse, and when it does, to look up. To stand up. To lift up our heads.
Why? Because our salvation will be very near.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke21:28 KJV
The preacher said:
Let’s think about a bucket, some rocks, and some sand.
Let’s say the rocks illustrate our priorities, our bucket list, and the bucket represents our life. The sand represents all of the other things in life that we have to do.
What happens if we put the sand in the bucket first?
We cannot fit all the rocks in, can we?
Our priorities find themselves crowded out.
However, if we put the rocks in the bucket first, the sand sifts around the rocks. They fill in the cracks or the time we have left after our priorities are accomplished.
A woman in a traditional Icelandic costume teaches a child to read. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Let’s apply that to our “how-to” ideas about home schooling, shall we?
Our priority must be that each human being on this earth should learn to read. Why? Because of Habakkuk 2:2 “[…]the Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it. […]’”
It is recorded forever in the Word of God, that He expects reading to happen. The very fact that He inspired men to write to us, logically leads to His expectations that we read.
Learning to read does not always happen in some educational settings. The child who is slow to read might never learn in some settings.
We, however, in our own homes, have the privilege of customizing the curriculum to fit the child who needs his schoolwork to come at him from a unique angle. We can drill one phonic concept for two days, if needed. We can read while pointing to allow “sight reading” to materialize. We can try glare management, page masking, and many other techniques, at will. No matter how good a teacher might be, she can hardly do this when she is dealing with 20 new readers at once, can she?
So we prioritize reading.
As the student ages, the obvious may surface, that the child is unable to learn to read. “Unable” is not the same as slow. After a couple of years, if reading is not happening at all, no matter what, then it is time to dump the bucket out and rearrange priorities. The new priority is to make sure literate content reaches this child’s mind through whatever means it takes.
Any writing can be found or created in the audio format.
It becomes the teacher’s duty, then, to provide this input. Although this is a big job, it is not too difficult for one mom with one child, but imagine a teacher of 20 handling it. It’s unfair to her, right?She wants a life, right? But you can do it. In fact, these helps become your priority: They are your life. So at this age, we insert any learning that is age-appropriate, especially Bible, math, and science, always in the audio format. Often, this is how our greatest minds have emerged to benefit mankind. Often, those not programmed to read well, find far more capacity in other disciplines than a good reader does. Although we never stop trying to impress reading skills upon our students, and although they may learn to read as adults, we insist they learn the essentials through whatever means necessary, always looking for that one thing that will be the spark for your own child’s chance at brilliance.
Make a list. Prioritize the big rocks to go into the bucket first.
Yes, you can make a child live happily ever after. That’s a good goal for a life, don’t you think?
