“Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” 1 Chronicles 16:23–24
Do you see homeschooling as holy work?
Nothing about homeschooling feels holy to me. Laundry, hard academics, meal-prep, making plans with friends, working out, and answering emails are what’s on tap for my typical day. This doesn’t exactly inspire me to think of Kingdom-style thoughts.
Still, when I dig a little deeper and look back over the day’s events, I can see the small everyday tasks truly are a chance for holy work. Laundry may be viewed as stewardship and service for our family. Challenging academics teach my child to do hard things with diligence and resilience. Working out allows me to honor God with my health. Fellowship and emails are ways we can be the body of Christ, reaching out with encouragement and care.
Every day we have a choice to look at the items on our plate as to-dos or a chance to point to God. In this season, I’m finding the small things are an opportunity to practice holy work in our own homes. It took me a while to get to this point and I’m not saying I get it right every time. Yet when I change my eyes to see differently, I see more of Christ at work in my days.
This lesson became real to me when God convicted my heart with my son’s high school friend group. The “Movie Night Guys” were a group of about 15 homeschool friends who made plans on a regular basis to get together and fellowship. At first, I was mildly annoyed by the piles of stinky tennis shoes, the mountains of pizza boxes, and leftover chips and food sprinkled all over my carpet. The next day, the house was sort of wrecked from the Movie Night Guys get together. My focus was on the mess, the inconvenience, and my stuff getting ruined.
God, in His wise way, changed my mind about this. I came to understand the Movie Night Guys were more than movies, mess, and pizza. The Movie Night Guys became a strong band of brothers who prayed for each other, encouraged each other through heartaches, breakups, and the challenges of teen life. They held each other accountable and debated their beliefs, scripture, and life topics on a regular basis. I am not saying they are perfect kids without fault. But God in His good graces, knitted these young men together to encourage each other in their daily walk. They were iron sharpening iron for each other. They were holy work happening in my midst.
My encouragement is for you to see everything you do as holy work. Homeschooling can be also an extension of your holy endeavors. More than anything, it’s a reminder that God can use all of it for His good. All the things of daily life — school, laundry, working out, emails, and even kids making a mess in your home — all of these things are acts of worship. All of this is a way to honor God if we can see it as our opportunity for holy work.