Dear Friends,
Like many little girls, my daughter Kathryn, wanted to try using a needle and thread. Knowing nothing myself about the craft of needlepoint she chose, I purchased a small kit that had a simple, pre-stamped design on the canvas. Being a young amateur it took her several tries to get her stitches right, but she eventually went on to complete it. Stitchery never became an avid interest for her, and in fact that first project was the only one, so I was especially surprised when several years later I received from her a birthday gift of a needlepoint wall hanging, but with a remarkable difference—she had stitched it without the aid of a pre-stamped kit!
Beginning with a blank canvas, she had drawn a design from her own imagination—an arrangement of three flowers with the words, “I Love You” across the bottom edge. Using six different colors of yarn, she set off her design with a contrasting background. It would have been easier to use someone else’s design, but she made the effort to demonstrate her care and love for me, pouring herself into the gift. It is preciously beautiful to me for this reason. It was also interesting to note that it only took her a couple of weeks to accomplish something she was inspired toward instead of the months her previous effort had taken.
Moms can take a lesson or two from this example. Our hearts are like a needleworker’s canvas and God wants to be the Master Weaver. Just as Kathryn, an amateur needleworker, needed a pre-stamped design to begin practicing an art new to her, moms who are amateurs at homeschooling may need to begin with someone else’s ideas and plans to “practice” the art of causing their children to learn. They may begin with a pre-stamped educational kit in the form of a unit study or lap book, but God wants you to progress into your own unique design—one given by Him especially for each individual family, and even each child. But you must begin with a clean, empty canvas with learning methods based in truth, and allow your children’s creativity to burst forth.
With the accumulation of broken, incomplete, and false ideas still woven into the canvas of your heart and mind, God cannot help you design a new plan that will be uniquely yours. You must yield your heart to His workmanship. He cannot work around designs already set into place, but when given a clean canvas, He will encourage you with wisdom as you release the creativity He’s already planted within you and your children.
Have you leftover threads of life’s teachings and stubborn knots of the world’s ways still woven into the canvas of your heart? Allow the Lord to cut the knots so you can begin to remove those old ideas that don’t give you the picture of learning that you want to see in your children. Give Him a clean canvas on which to work. As you co-labor with Him, you may need to pull out threads of new ideas that have been applied with misplaced concern. You may need to realign some of your educational ideas to allow for a greater release of creativity in your family, and a little time may need to pass before you see the picture take shape. As you persevere in faith, your family will begin to portray a vital lifestyle of learning uniquely suited to you and your precious ones—right from the heart of God.
I wrote a 12-page eArticle for new members of LOLACHE. “Your Child’s Individuality and Unique Creative Profile” will help you take a closer look at how God made your children. By tapping into their rich reservoir of God-given raw materials, your children are pre-disposed toward their vocation if they are guided to release creativity more fully.
May you be richly blessed in the making of family memories during this most Holy Season.
So grateful to be found in the Lord’s service!
Marilyn Howshall for Lifestyle of Learning™ Ministries
(This message was originally published in the Lifestyle of Learning™ Journal in 1993; Copyright © Marilyn Howshall)
[Lifestyle of Learning™/LOLACHE eNewsletter ~ December 21, 2011, Issue 3]