It will be okay...

is the motto a fellow homeschooling friend and I have promised to say to one another when we feel as though we would rather be thrown to the lions than have to explain nouns once again.

"It will be okay." Just vague enough to apply to how I will muddle through physical science and she will view smeared slides under a microscope for biology. Just specific enough to remind ourselves that a child will one day successfully remember math facts and grammar facts without causing gray hairs to sprout from our chins with the effort of teaching them.

"It will be okay." Okay because our efforts to homeschool are bigger than the academic facts. Okay because our family's educational goals do matter. Okay because our failures show us God's grace and our successes show us God's grace. Okay because God is our principal and His word gives us principles for this work. (Remember the difference between "-pal" and "-ple"?)

"It will be okay." For the days when nothing is okay. I'm cranky and burned out from the minute my alarm blares morning news. The shower is not hot enough and needs scrubbing to boot. The boys are slow to get up and the cat has barfed in the hallway. The laundry from yesterday didn't get switched to the dryer and is now sour but breakfast is burning so I'm too distracted to ask someone else to do it. The morning devotion points out my inadequacies and I send an arrow prayer for forgiveness when I really should give 40 minutes in the closet.

"It will be okay." For when the day goes from bad to worse. No one understands their math, most of all me. Science can't be completed because I don't have a 2 liter bottle for the experiment. History bears down upon us in a real life vignette of the colonists (boys) seeking independence while England (me) is considering new taxes and Coercive Acts. Writing is a disaster because apparently spelling and neatness do count. Typing and Spanish cannot be done because the computer has imploded with the blue screen of death.

"It will be okay." When I fall into bed at night and wonder if I can ask the school bus to stop here in August and soak in a bathtub of bubbles until then. When I groan before the Lord that this job is truly too hard. When I remember that quiet time for me today was more about not hearing my own voice than theirs because I really am sick and tired of myself and the naval gazing.

"It will be okay." His response to me in His word. His response to me that what He has given to me to do, He has provided for me with Himself. Not another curriculum or a formula or a new way to teach fractions. Not a method or improved philosophy or innovation for Latin roots. Not more time or patience, smarter kids or a smarter mom. Not anything but Him will make the difference in the doing of the task.

I'll remember again He gently leads those that have young, and that's me, baby. Praise the Lord, it will be okay.