I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone make the comment, “You homeschool? Oh I could never do that. I’m not patient enough.”
Oh, is that what I’m supposed to have? Excuse me, then, I’m clearly in the wrong line of work.
I don’t know if I’ve ever had a job that asked more of me than parenting. Perhaps that’s why it’s easy to want to escape to something we feel like we do better, or at least something less demanding. It’s hard to stay in the midst of it sometimes, wholeheartedly, holding tight, giving it your all, let alone doing it victoriously.
But I’m realizing that staying in it is itself a victory. It’s saying, “You know what? Half the time I’m not really sure what I’m doing, but I love you so much that I’m going to keep doing it and trust that God will use what I give and pour grace over all the rest. I will keep pressing on because this is worth it.”
I was reminded sometime during the day of an old episode of Friends, where Monica (the one who certainly wanted to do it all the right way) takes a tap-dancing class.
When she first tries, she fails pretty miserably. By the end of the episode, she decides to go back and try again. I wanted to post the clip for it, but I couldn’t find it. Here’s the dialogue though:
Teacher: You by the door. In or out?
Monica : In. [She joins in the dancing. She still flounders]
Teacher: You in the back, you’re getting it all wrong!
Monica : Yeah, but at least I’m doing it!
Was I getting it all wrong today? No, not really. Probably sometimes – that’s just parenting. But at least I was doing it. That’s a victory in itself.
What are you calling victory today?
