With Eyes to See

As we have been spending more time in the garden this season we have greatly enjoyed the participation in so many real life and Biblical parallels.

Do you garden? Then you know exactly what I am saying.


FROM THE GARDEN
We see good seed, sown into good soil, and it grows and multiplies just as God designed.

"And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
~ Mark 4:8

We see weeds that look so much like the plants we have sown into the ground that we must wait to pluck them.

"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."
~ Matthew 13:30

There are real life reminders that in all tasks there is an appropriate and an inappropriate time to tend and water. I am continually reminded that in child training and instruction there is a time to guide and teach. In the garden there is a time to water. And a time, if neglected, that water can no longer do its intended good.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

Before the fruit, there is always the flower. As a gardener, these flowers have you all but tasting the fruit and yet, without continued weeding and watering the plant will not bear that promised fruit. The plant needs its daily, or in our area, thrice daily water to remain healthy. How that speaks to my heart about ministering and guiding those young ones that I see in this beautiful "flower stage."

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
~ Proverbs 22:6

As children get older we are often tempted to compromise on the videos, books and other things we allow into their lives. We must be committed more than ever to tend these flowers. They are not yet fruit. We must protect them. We are their only line of defense.

"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners."
~ 1 Corinthians 15:33

PLANNING FOR A NEW YEAR
As we select resources for a new year of homeschooling, may we use God's Word as our standard as measure (Philippians 4:8). May our goal be that everything they see, hear and experience magnifies Christ.

Skeet Savage faithfully charges that we make our graduation goal the creation of Bereans, not just students that have jumped through academic hoops. Amen to that.

"Now these (the Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."
~Acts 17:11


By this standard, success in graduation is measured by noble mindedness, displayed in their 1. Eagerness to hear the Word of God and 2. Hunger to be in His Word daily.

TAKING A BLOGGING BREAK
As I take a two week break from blogging to pray and plan for a new school year, it will be my prayer that God will give us eyes to see.


Blessings as you lead little hearts home,




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Sarah has been waiting for this watermelon ever since we planted them. Delicious... with more fruit and flowers on the vine!