I was motivated to read one of the many books in my collection this morning. I tend to approach books the way I do scrapbooking supplies; I spend more time collecting them than using them! But one particular chapter on the trouble with ‘If’ in Success, Motivation, and the Scriptures really spoke to me. I wonder if (sorry) any of these IFs get in the way of your motivation:
- IF my husband were a believer…
- IF my family were supportive of homeschooling…
- IF my child didn’t have special needs…
- IF I didn’t have health problems…
- IF we had more money…
- IF we lived in a better state for homeschooling…
- IF we lived in a suburban area…
- IF we lived in the country…
- IF we didn’t have a family business…
- IF we did have a family business…
- IF my children were committed to Christ…
- IF I were a morning person…
- IF I lived in a bigger house…
- IF my husband weren’t a packrat…
- IF it all didn’t fall on me…
- IF we had more homeschooling friends…
- IF I were more organized…
- IF I could stick to a schedule…
- IF the kids didn’t fight…
- IF I didn’t have an only child…
- IF I didn’t have so many kids…
- IF we had a more reliable car…
- IF I had more self-discipline…
I have a lot of these IFs hanging around. If (there it is again) you’ve ever studied geometry or logic, you know to expect a THEN. IF the statement is true, THEN another truth follows. If a, then b. Some of us have never stopped talking about ‘a’, so it’s no wonder we never get beyond ‘b’ (where ‘b’ stands for a bad homeschooling experience).
What if (you try not using that word!) you tried some new IFs like:
- IF I trusted God with my husband’s faith…
- IF I quit waiting for my family to support me…
- IF I explored my child’s potential…
- IF I made the most of my healthy days…
- IF I asked God to use the money we have…
- IF I got involved in state politics…
- IF I learned to be content with where we live…
- IF I thanked God for the work He’s given me…
- IF I spent more time in prayer…
- IF I made the most of the traits God gave me…
- IF I trained my children to help me…
- IF I set out to befriend lonely homeschoolers…
- IF today were the last day I had with my kids…
- IF I saw staying home as a blessing…
- IF I let God run my homeschool and my life…
What THEN? I don’t know! But I like the second batch of IFs a lot better than the first. Today I am going to change my IF of IF we had gotten more school done yesterday to IF we learn a lot of amazing things today…
What ‘IF’ do you want to change in your homeschool?
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
