There really is no comparison to a springtime hike. The moment you open your front door, all your senses are revitalized. As you step into the landscape of snowcapped mountains framing the budding trees and prairie grass, you are greeted with a refreshing breeze. Gazing at the blue sky, you observe whisps of cotton performing a slow ballet. Feelings of contentment refresh your spirit as you breath in the faint scent of sweet wildflowers. Every element of nature seems to fit together in a well-orchestrated performance in tune to the chorus of songbirds.
Reflecting on this picture, however, one can agree that it isn’t the grass alone that beckons us outdoors but rather all the elements that make up the environment. Inherently, without this unique assortment of scents, sounds, and scenery, your interest would quickly fade, leaving you less than rejuvenated.
How does this principle apply to your family?
The individual entities of an ecosystem work to serve their own purposes, yet they each work together to thrive, bringing an overall beauty to the environment. Likewise, each individual member of a family has his own purpose, yet he grows through his relationships and interactions with the people around him. Trust that God already knew all the circumstances of your family’s future when he gifted you with your child and he will orchestrate the unique qualities and dynamics within your family to grow your child’s knowledge, compassion, abilities, interests, and gifts.
Each of us is important
Each of us brings our own distinct qualities and gifts to the table as we serve others in the well-orchestrated work of God’s kingdom.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
(1 Corinthians 12: 4-26, NIV)
-Yvonne Strachan
Delve deeper into Bible study, advice, and deeper thinking about how important each one of us is in the kingdom of God as you read the Inspirational Homeschooling book.
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