WHO ELSE IS GOING TO DO IT?

It's too easy to slack off sometimes either as a parent or a friend or a Christian. I guess it comes with having a sinful nature still. But it shouldn't be our status quo. Perseverance is a hard word. It is a very noble thing when you think about it, but when it gets down to it, you can't just think about persevering; you actually have to do it. This year I have been seeing something in me that's kind of disturbing. I call it lack of follow through. Maybe this is common to most people, and the people who get a lot done have just decided to complete things they start. All I know is that there's a tendency in me to see a problem and immediately attack it - but when the job requires a constancy and a perseverance, I want to shirk. It can either be with a book, with a home project, or something more serious like praying for someone or persevering with my two children who have some learning difficulties. Perhaps I am a victim of the culture. The culture says everything must be attained now. As I'm sitting here, I am a keystroke away from almost any information I want, about almost anything I can imagine. I remember a time when you actually had to look up the phone number of a theater and call them to find out the time of a movie. Or weather. I can get a detailed hour by hour forecast in minutes. Ten years ago I would most likely turn the radio or TV on to get that information. Remember when the Weather Channel was so novel? Now that's too slow for us. I want the weather for my zip code now! This is probably why I have never really wanted any sort of smartphone. I know myself and if I had one of those things, I'd be constantly on it.

Anyway, getting back to perseverance - when it comes to certain things in your life, especially a mother's life - only you can do certain things. While I certainly appreciate grandparents and other relatives who pray for my children - I need to be praying for them most of all because I know them best. If I've chosen to homeschool I need to persevere through the tough stuff and just do it. Who else is going to teach them? Don't get me wrong - I acknowledge that God is in control and that He is guiding and directing things according to His will - the whole thing is not on my shoulders. But...there is a balance here. He has given some things to be my responsibility, and I need to persevere.

At the beginning of last school year, I was led to these verses and I think they will continue to apply in the years to come ~

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7

"For I know the one in whom I have placed my confidence, and I am perfectly certain that the work he has committed to me is safe in his hands until that day." 2 Timothy 1:12

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not drudge his own son but gave him up for us all - can we not trust such a God to give us, with Him, everything else that we can need?" Romans 8:32