My New Year’s Resolution

Did you stay up late last night to see the new year in? I used to when my kids were younger. And while it was fun to play games, eat junk food, and watch movies until after midnight, I’m kind of glad that phase of my life is over. After tranquilizing the dogs, I turned in at the normal bed time and that was that. Pretty boring, I know.

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? I didn’t, except one which I’ll explain in a moment. In the past, any resolutions I’d make wouldn’t last more than a few days or weeks. Not that I didn’t want to keep at it, I just didn’t. I found myself needing to start over again and again. Finally, I just gave up.

All of us seem to fall into two categories when it comes to making resolutions: we either keep them or break them.  There’s a downside whether you’re a “keeper” or a “breaker.”

The downside to keeping resolutions is that it’s easy for pride to kick in.  We look around at others and wonder why they don’t exercise the same amount of commitment and will power as we do. If the resolution relates to home schooling in some way, an attitude of “We home school right. Just look at how our kids are turning out” can surface quickly.

The downside to breaking resolutions is that it’s easy to be chronically discouraged. We look around and see those who appear to be succeeding and wonder why we can’t stick with it. If we have a sensitive conscience, we blame ourselves for making a mess of home schooling and fear we’re putting our children at risk academically. And if our conscience isn’t so sensitive, it’s easy to minimize our failures and slip into apathy.

There are no “rules” of education or Christian Home Schooling that if kept, guarantee you’ll get well-rounded, socially stable, academically-prepared children.  But, there is one “rule,” one resolution you should consider keeping.

Resolve to speak the gospel to yourself and your children daily.  Regularly reminding yourself and your children of Christ’s love for you, His coming and dying on the cross for you, His resurrection, puts the attention where it belongs: on Him. Speaking the gospel to yourself daily takes the focus off yourself and frees you to get to work.  It provides an antidote to continuously evaluating ourselves and our performance. Only the gospel provides true hope for the future.

This week we celebrated our first Christmas without my mom. She passed away last June at the age of 92. Her death hit us hard. Associations – a song, a circumstance, a conversation – have triggered different memories for all of us this month.

Living on our property for almost 20 years, my children grew up visiting her daily. She was a giver, and for her, Christmas was her favorite time of year to express this. Right after Thanksgiving, her home turned into a bakery where she made and shipped cookies to friends nationwide. My children will never forget regularly going over to her house to sample whatever was just out of the oven.

While she’s gone, we know we’ll see her again. And that reason is the promise of the gospel which she believed and embraced.

So, if you’re going to make a resolution, make it this: Speak the gospel to yourself daily. And then, speak it to your children.

That’s the tip of the New Year!

Curt Bumcrot

January is the month we promote our Diploma Program and Privately Developed Plan Program. It’s also the month we extend our deepest enrollment discount to existing families. This year we’re inviting new families to take advantage of this discount too. Click Here to learn how to save $50.00 per student. But, you’ll need to act now. This offer will not be repeated.