See with Your Ears
Last week I wrote, “Things are not always what they seem to be.” What I meant was that we often draw mistaken conclusions based on what we “see.” To correct this we need to “see” with our ears, and teach our children to do the same.
To help explain this, consider two characters from the Bible.
- Lazarus- extreme health issues, poor, unemployed. Likely deserted by God.
- Rich man- healthy, plenty of money, a person of influence. Likely blessed by God.
However, when the curtain is pulled back by death, the truth is revealed.
To “see with our ears” means to see how God sees. That can only happen through regularly reading God’s word. It happens when we read it out loud to our children. It happens when we read it or share it with each other. It even happens when we read it out loud to ourselves, although doing this may seem a little bit weird.
Years ago Basic Skills hosted an annual home schooling conference that drew large numbers of parents. Much of what took place was helpful and encouraging. But, there was a reoccurring conference theme which I regret promoting. This refrain was repeated, year after year. Learn how to equip your children to be world changers for Christ or something similar. The emphasis was on the grandiose. While not exactly to the exclusion of the mundane, the admonition to live a quiet and godly life wasn’t one of our headlines.
For most of us, life isn’t all that grandiose. It’s not about “go big or go home” type things as Chad Bird said in his most recent book, Your God is Too Glorious . It’s often simply about doing the things that need to be done, over and over again, for the ones we love. And, these things are often small and unremarkable- things like going to work, taking the kids to soccer, cleaning up the house, making dinner, paying the bills on time, etc. Unremarkable, maybe. Unnoticed by the public? Probably. But not unimportant especially to those we do them for.
So, how does God see and how can we cultivate his perspective? By regularly reading the Bible to ourselves, others and our children, and encouraging them to do the same.
That’s the tip of the week!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Do you live out of state and are interested in having your student take a standardized achievement test? Basic Skills is expanding its testing service and is now making the California Achievement Test (CAT)/TerraNova 2 available to home schoolers nationwide, grades K-12. This test provides valuable information about the educational level at which your student is working. Additionally, test scores are useful for:
- Assessing academic strengths and weaknesses
- Planning future lessons
- Complying with state requirements
- Recording student academic progress
Contact us if you’d like to know more and how this can work for you.
