North America, home sweet home, has to be one of the hardest places in the world to live. Spiritually, that is. You know the truth of God, from His Word, then turn around and get bombarded with the opposite message and temptations...constantly. The hymn "I need Thee every hour" comes to mind. Especially when it comes to raising kids the way God asked me to. This privilege is exhausting. It would be SO easy to park them in front of a TV screen, hand them Fruit Loops, send them off to school for most of the day, take them to a club of some kind in the evening then get a babysitter on the weekends for a "Mom break". What would I need a break from? Not that it's wrong for people to send their kids to school, but for me it is...He asked me to homeschool. They didn't have public schools in Bible times, so it was not addressed in scripture...how to raise kids was however, so if you can fulfill those mandates with the cooperation of your school, more power to ya Sister!
At times, those sleek, impressive wardrobes, those coffee breaks with "the girls", those one-at-a-time tasks that your job requires of you, those hours you spend looking at four different walls and that pay check look pretty tempting. Then other times...most times...my comfy yoga pants, coffee breaks when I actually want one, the pleasure of successfully multitasking, the snow covered mountain in my backyard view to feast my eyes upon and the priceless joy of being the one to band aid my kids and video tape them laughing up a storm...these things refresh my home page.
I am only human, a human whose heart has been changed by a powerful God, but still battles the flesh I am yet trapped in. I don't want to be the poster woman for North America...she is my friend and I like her, but I think she is missing something...something she can never get back.