Against The Grain

***Disclaimer:  This article is not about whether or not you home school, it's about the general idea of doing the right thing regardless of what that "thing" is for you.  My "thing" right now is home school.***

I have several directions I could go with this blog article.  I have a lot of things running through my mind so bear with me as I work through it :)

Jared and I are convinced that home schooling is right for our children and our family.

If Jared were to say to me today, "Fine, go ahead and enroll the kids in school."  I wouldn't do it.  Most of you know that I've struggled over time with wanting to do home school.  It's not that I don't think it's what's best for them, it's just hard to do the "right" thing.

Even if you don't home school I'm sure you can relate to the "right" thing issue.  It's just easier to be selfish and self serving.  Doing the right thing often requires self sacrifice and discipline.  For example, this marathon training.  I've decided to run this race in October and the "right" thing to do is the training.  If I don't discipline myself to train then I won't be able to run the race.  It's that simple.

I've told Jared in the past that I keep waiting for the day I will wake up and be all about home schooling.  He said a lot of things we should do aren't fun and exciting.  Just because I don't wake up in the morning giddy to pay my house payment doesn't mean I shouldn't.  A lot of what we do as adults is the mundane and just part of being a responsible adult.

This idea was a big eye opener for me.  There are a lot of things that I do daily that I don't really enjoy (dishes, laundry, watching what I eat).  It was in this moment that I realized the issue isn't the task but my heart.

At what point do we do the right thing because it's right, not because it's fun or liberating in some way. 

Back to my "right thing," home schooling.  Any reason I come up with for why I don't want to do it are selfish.

-I don't like being left out of the masses as they prepare for the mass exodus to the public school buildings.
-I don't want my kids to be excluded from things or be considered different or odd.
-I don't like being cautious and worried about reactions every time someone asks my kids what grade they are in and where they go to school.
-I don't like my friends/acquaintances feeling as if my choice to home school somehow passes judgment on their choices for their kids.
-I don't want to be left out or rejected in any way. 

Ministry can be very isolating as people guard themselves around us.  Add homeschooling and I feel down right lonely at times.



Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

1 Samuel 16:7 - "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (NIV)

As much as I would like to do what the majority do in order not to stand out and appear "weird" there is no question we are in His will when it comes to home schooling our children.  I do not have a single reason to send them that isn't selfish or self serving in some way.

My issue is not one of being in His will but more a matter of my heart.  Doing the right thing, regardless of what that is for you, is still the right thing regardless of how hard it is.