I was a home school mom for a total of 23 yrs. When our youngest graduated last summer I felt as if I graduated with her. I am reminded of a simple but wonderful example of the faithfulness of God when we trust Him with the everyday things of our life.
Cherie, our middle daughter, was beginning 3rd grade and was doing well in all of her subjects until one day I tried to introduce multiplication to her. No matter how many ways I tried to explain it, she could not grasp the concept. I used "hands on " with blocks, sticks, different colors and different shapes of all kinds. She just kept adding instead of multiplying.
After several days and many patient but failed attempts, I went out to my garage and leaning over my washing machine began to cry out to God in desperation. I many thoughts all running together. "What if I'm just not good at this. What if she never gets it." It felt like this frustration over a simple math concept had taken over our life. After I cried a bit and quieted down, the Lord said " Go to the beach". I was shocked. I said "What!" He said " Take the girls to the beach." I couldn't believe that the Lord would want me to give up. I didn't understand but all of a sudden a day off sounded wonderful. That night I told Harvey what the Lord told me to do. He thought it was a great idea. I think he knew I needed a break as much as the girls did.
The next morning after breakfast, devotions and morning chores, I announced to the girls, " We're off to the beach". They thought I was crazy but hurried around and packed lunches and all our beach stuff into the car. It was wonderful. Because all the other school age kids were in school it wasn't crowded. Except for a few moms with babies and toddlers, we had a huge area of the beach to ourselves.
After playing in the water for quite a while, we settled onto the big blanket to eat some sandwiches and chips. Normally the kids bring something for them to do after they eat or for when they get tired of the water. That morning they had grabbed some games and one of them was Yahtzee. So while our lunch was settling, we decided to play. I had taught our older daughter, Tanya, how to score by herself but Cherie would just roll and try to get what I told her she needed. About the middle of the game she decided that she wanted to write down her own score. Every turn I would tell her what to write down. We were having such fun. The girls always cheered at a good roll even if it wasn't theirs. Cherie needed a third three and she got it.
She went to write it down and said "It's nine, Mom. Because three threes are nine."
I looked at her and without struggling at all she said " 3 times 3 is nine."
We all cheered!!! Including Cherie. " She got it !! "
What seemed to be a wall had broken. When it all came together for her we all celebrated the victory. From then on she took off with confidence. When we came up against something difficult, we didn't always run off to the beach but we did take a breath and maybe a break. All through school and then in college and even now when things start to overwhelm her or the other girls, we remember our day at the beach.
She's a mom of a three year old now that's adventurous like her. They travel overseas and go where a lot of people would never think to go. She has never let fear build that wall to hinder her.
I think the most valuable lesson we all learned was that the fear of not getting it or doing it right builds a wall that hinders our success. When the fear of failing or not getting it was gone learning was fun.
Learning is always suppose to be an adventure our whole lives. God has a way of teaching each person at their own pace. When we stop learning, we stop growing, when we stop growing eventually we just stop. Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep going.
I believe that our most difficult times they are made more difficult by our struggling. We need to rest and let God bring the answer we need to us in a way we can grasp it. He has the answer to every situation.
So, take a breath, take a break, or even go to the beach along the way.
