"Training for the work of eternity"

This is my first blog entry for Ambleside, although I have been educating our sons using ASI support for three years. I must admit at the outset that I am a bit reticent to write a blog.  This is because I lack familiarity with the medium (I don't read blogs in general) and because I am more of a private person than most Internet users (point in case: I don't have a Facebook page and don't know how to access any). So the question is begged: why am I writing a blog now? Because I am grateful to ASI for the support I have received for home education and I want to offer my support, albeit in a small way, to ASI and to parents who are on the same journey as us.  If I can be one seed of encouragement in the productive soil of another homeschooling family and if I can point others to the rich philosophy of Charlotte Mason as applied by ASI, then my entry into the world of blogging will be time well spent.

In the weeks leading up to the start of a new semester (as I am in right now), my heart always cries out to God to direct our paths and to lay His hand of blessing on our feeble efforts to raise sons for His Kingdom. I am always struck by my weakness in this task while having full conviction of Jesus' call on my life to raise our sons in this way. A hard combination: weakness and requirement. It necessarily lays me at the feet of Jesus asking for His empowerment, which He unfailingly gives.  These weeks between the fall and spring semester have been no different.

Interestingly, I also often end up reading a biography of a saint during our school break (such as Charlotte Mason, Elizabeth Elliot, Corrie ten Boom, Hudson Taylor), and I did this last week as well. The biographies always challenge my heart to ask "In what ways I am living only for Jesus and only for His designs and desires in my life?" This last week I read Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper, which briefly tells the story of the lives of Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, Esther Ahn Kim and Helen Roseveare. These women lived in times and places that were severely challenging to them on every level. I live a life of relative ease and I can't help feeling disturbed by this.

There are a lot of issues raised by these thoughts. But as I have meditated on these lives, God has reminded me again that He appoints the times and places of each family and calls us to faithfulness in that time and place. One sure place of appointment for me is in my home educating my children. Each day, as Lilias Trotter reminded me, is "training for the work of eternity." I am keenly aware of this fact and responsibility and the graces of God that accompany our knee-worn obedience. Thoughts like these are in my mind as I prepare for the new semester by reading books such as the arithmetic book that arrived this week, Abigail Adams last week, and Georges Seurat that should arrive today - to name a few of our beloved guests this next semester.

Not every entry of mine will be on the abstract level, I assume. As I get into the semester I will wrestle with more practical issues, as usual. However, what do I know? I have never blogged before...until now.