Sunday, June 5, 2016

PARENT'S BLESSING



my beautiful girl and her best friend at their grade 8 graduation.

The message I gave to the HBC Co-op Graduates and their parents on June 4, 2016.


Well! It is certainly a day to celebrate! Congratulations graduates!! Whether it has been 8 years or 12 years, I am sure that it has been a long haul (or at least it has felt like it at times) BUT you’ve made it! Here you are!


Moms. Dads. Congratulations! You too have made it! But if you are like me, you are wondering where the time went and how you ever managed to get to this point. But here you are. Take a look. This is a group of really great  kids and YOU have had the privilege and responsibility of raising them. Well Done!


It is common, on these auspicious occasions, to speak of the new chapter or ponder that famous quote about the two roads. We often associate, especially a high school graduation, with a new beginning, a clean slate, the start of a story or the beginning of a journey. We mistakenly put significant emphasis that this is when a life really matters; when God will begin to use a person and will reveal His will or plan for their lives.


Can I encourage you that this is not a new story but a new chapter in the narrative of your life. It is not a new journey but a new adventure in the continuing journey of your time on this terrestrial plain.


Your story began before you were born. Even before your parents anticipated your existence, you were known by the Creator of the universe.


Jeremiah 11:5 says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”. Now, I realize that these words were spoken to Jeremiah but I think that throughout scripture we find that God knows and cares about each one of us individually. You matter to Him. So much so, that He has the hairs on our head numbered! Your details matter to Him.


In Psalm 139 David says “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” I know that this is one of those verses that we hear so often that we almost tune it out or we whisper along with the speaker because we know it so well, but we miss the message. Today,  I’d like you to take some time to ponder this verse with me.


Have you ever seen someone knit? Or maybe you knit. You may have noticed, knitting doesn’t just happen. No one just sits down with a pair of knitting needles and a ball of yarn and begins to knit. Even the most experienced of knitters has a pattern they follow (even if they made it up themselves and it exists only in their mind). 

Knitting is a two handed process with a purpose. And what does the psalmist say? “You knit me together in my mother’s womb”. The two hands of God knit YOU!!! You have God’s hand-prints all over you! How awesome is that?!


Not only did He knit you together, but He knit you in YOUR mother’s womb. Not just any mother’s womb. We don’t always understand the “whys” of our life but the truth is that whether you were born or adopted into the family, God’s hands were all over your life and circumstances. God hand picked your parents specifically for you. They are not perfect. They are far from it, but they are perfect for you and they are YOURS.


And do you know what else? God may have  decided that your family was complete with the addition of you.  But if not, God  hand picked each and every sibling, just for you. It was not an accident when they arrived in your family. You were not an afterthought. At the arrival of your brother or sister, God was not taken back with the thought of “oh no! I forgot about Rachel when I gave the Palmer’s Andrew What was I thinking?!?!” Nope, there was none of that. God had a plan and a purpose before the beginning for you. Something that only you could bring to your family. Something that only you could teach your parents and siblings. AND Something only they could bring to the family and something only they could teach you. Don’t miss out on that.


God was very intentional in placing you here in this time and place in history. Here in Canada. In Essex County. Even in our Harrow Co-op. He has things for you to do.


Maybe you are not aware, but there is significant sacrifice that parents make when they have children, and homeschooling is a huge undertaking. Being responsible for raising children is huge, being responsible for their education and feeling responsible for their future success, takes it to a whole other level. There is a popular saying, “Behind every great kid is a mom who’s pretty sure she's screwing it up”. I am pretty sure your mom feels this and maybe your father does too.


“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference”


Robert Frost’s poem got me to thinking. Your parents, in recognizing that God has a plan and a purpose for you life and in raising you as a follower of Christ, have started you in your journey on “the road less traveled.”


And though, as parents, we have a variety of reasons for choosing to home-school our children, that choice has allowed you to continue on “the road less traveled”. You have been blessed to have time with your family that you wouldn’t have otherwise had. Most of you have had the opportunity to participate at co-op and learn things your parents couldn’t teach you(or wouldn’t) like dissection (thank you Betsy for taking THAT on) And you’ve had the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships.


Jeremiah 12:5 says “If you have raced with men on foot
   and they have worn you out,
   how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
   how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”


You have been given a safe place to grow and prepare for this next adventure. The gift of “safe country” that your parents have provided is priceless. I hope you have taken the most of every opportunity you have been given to train and grow. For some of you, your new adventure is taking you into the “thickets by the Jordan”. If you haven’t yet taken full advantage of the “safe country” take your summer to truly enjoy your family and prepare yourself. You have a race to run. God is ready and willing to equip you. Are you ready and willing to go?


God has plans for you today and everyday until He takes you home. He has given you gifts and talents to do exactly what He has called you to do. 1 Peter 1:3 promises that “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”


Henry Blackaby is known for saying “The reality is that the Lord never calls the qualified; He qualifies the called”.

This next chapter of your life is set to open. The latest adventure in your life’s journey is about to begin. He has called you, he has qualified you. Like Peter, you need to keep your eyes on Jesus and in faith, step out of the boat and walk.

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About Me

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I am the very blessed wife of my best friend. The humble mother of five precious children. Walking a life-road that is more amazing than I could ever imagine.