Eternal perspective.....

Tonight was our monthly homeschooling support meeting. You know there are times when you feel that you need to be somewhere, and the enemy tries every which way he can to thwart God's plan? Well...today was one of those days. But...again, the enemy was defeated.

We had a speaker tonight who's topic was eternal perspective...eternal focus in our homes...with our children. This is her last year of homeschooling...I think it's her 20th year. She, her husband and children are in full time missionary ministry thru Heaven's family. http://www.heavensfamily.org/ The most important thing that she spoke on, and the reminder for me was so timely, was keeping our focus on things/activities/homeschooling that have eternal value. Not that academics are not important, but that teaching about who God is, and what His word says and helping them have a personal relationship with Jesus has so much more importance than any 'schooling' that we do.

We all spoke a lot about things of eternal value and eternal perspective. Becky shared all about the different missionary ministries that they have, particularly about the orphanages that they support and help run. Three weeks ago, she just got back from Myanmar. (formerly Burma...which I didn't know) Myanmar is a 3rd world country in Asia. As she described her trip and her journey to one particular orphanage, my thoughts listening to her ran the gamut from "oh, those poor children! And, how do people live like that?!" to...".oh, my goodness how can we (meaning our country) be so very focused on money and the economic climate, recession, depression that we are experiencing now, when we are and will continue to be the richest country in the world?! Wow...does our family have so very much of everything we need...and we have it in abundance! As simply as we live, we could live so much simpler...and we could live everyday with gratitude and contentment. Money has no eternal value. People have eternal value. Caring for each other, our brothers and sisters in Christ has eternal value...whether the caring is done here or overseas. But these children! They have so little, especially compared with my children...they don't even have parents...and yet, they know the Lord, they are joyful and grateful....she told a story that thanks to this ministry, one particular orphanage was able to have rice and vegetables everyday and they were especially grateful to now have chicken once a week. They were GRATEFUL to have chicken once a week!

I wanted to post all of this while it was fresh in my mind. I wanted to write it down to talk about with my children tomorrow...and to remember as we're doing our schoolwork, that the time I spend with my children reading and discussing God's word, the time that we sing worship together, the time we spend praying together has much, much more eternal value than any books or knowledge we get from academic studies.

We will be looking into ways that we can help these people and orphans...even in our uncertain economic climate. Because...I know that our God provides...and if He is leading us to provide for the 'least of these'...then I know He will provide for us as well. And, oh, Dear Father...forgive me for my times of ungratefulness and discontent! Help me to avoid worldly distractions and spend as much time as I can with my children praising You and reading your word as we study your world....raising these children to know you and love you is our greatest ministry as parents. May you all have a blessed day! ~Sue~