[from the archives]
Since I’ve been thinking about writing on this blog, my thoughts turn most often toward what a blessing it is to be Mom to my kids. I keep wanting to write about how my kids function together as a team. I’ve been thinking—Why does it bless me so much?
It blessed King David too: “BEHOLD, HOW good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!….for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.” Ps 133
The message Bible says it this way, “How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!”
Jesus wanted unity for us so much that He used his last prayers on earth praying that we would have it.
“That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me. I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one: I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.” John 17:21-23
I used to think that “unity among the brethren” meant that no one in the church argued about church decisions. I thought that if I as a member of a church was generally agreeable to what the leadership planned to do or at least I kept my disagreeing thoughts to myself while at church, then I had unity.
Now I think about unity in terms of my family. My kids have always been able to accomplish certain tasks together. If my husband said, “Come on everyone, we need to stack wood,” they would do it, some more slowly than others. I could instruct them all to do their chores, and for the most part they would. But the kind of unity in teamwork that we have in our family since embracing the principles of Lifestyle of Learning™ is very different.
It’s a blessing that they get the specific activity accomplished, but the most amazing blessing is how they treat each other WHILE they’re doing whatever it is, and their willingness and eagerness from their HEARTS to be a part of it, and the joy and friendship between them while they accomplish it.
That’s why Sunday mornings are such a blessing to me. I often wake up to the bang of the French doors below my bedroom window followed by the click-clack of the garage door opening. Phillip is loading the cars. We rent space in our building, so we have to transport all our equipment back and forth. Into the cars go the guitars, the amps, the drums, the sound board, the boxes full of cables and mics along with the signs and the overhead projector.
Soon I hear the clang of pots in the kitchen. Lizzy is making oatmeal for everyone. It’s not long before everyone flows into the cars, locking up the house doors and making sure the dog goes out and back in again before we leave, and our striped cat doesn’t get out in all the coming and going.
Once we arrive at church, the team ramps up. Everything is unloaded by all which takes about 3-4 trips in and out for all of us. Then we do the set up, sound checks and everything else. It’s a blessing that all the work gets done, but the bigger blessing, the pleasant, wonderful, beautiful aspects of it are that my children laugh and sing together while they’re doing it all, and they honor each other. I hear, “Oh sorry…oops I’m in your way… I’ll get that for you…. I already got that one…..That sounds good….”
Yes, arguing is absent, but so is any trace of bad attitudes, frustration, irritation, coldness or tense relational undercurrent that is so common among siblings. There’s usually no one else in the church building when we do all this. It’s just like all the other things we do at home. The same holds true for all the take down, re-pack, and unpack when we get home.
How pleasant it is and what a blessing it is to be mom to my kids as they walk in such unity, harmony, and teamwork!
Would you like to measure the unity, harmony, and teamwork being lived out in your family? We have a parenting test for measuring the relationships in your family. It is located within our Facebook group H.E.M—Home Educated Mom. You must be a H.E.M member to see and take the test. You can request to be a member, and take the test today! It’s located here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/92604579980/doc/339304384980/
Marilyn Howshall’s ebook Empowering the Transfer of Moral Values and Faith can help you begin to improve the relationships in your family at the heart level.
[originally published July 2010]