Simply and Sweetly

Josh and the neighbor boy found each other this summer.

When the neighbors moved in behind us, the neighbor boy was an infant.
They moved in during the month of September...the same month that he was born.
I think that up until this summer, Josh has been just a little boy in the eyes of the neighbor boy.
A six-year old playing with a four-year old is much different than a 7-year old playing with a 5-year old.
Josh, I think, just looked a whole lot more interesting to the neighbor boy this year...with his light-saber and bicycle-riding skills.

Josh shared with me last night that his good buddy, our neighbor boy, was on the swing set with him and asked, "Why do you guys homeschool?"

I was really super-curious about what Josh said to his friend.

You see, this little boy started the second grade over a week ago, and to tell you the honest truth, I have been worried about what Josh was thinking when his friend invited him to go with him and his mom to see his school one afternoon at the end of summer.
I have been worried about what Josh was thinking when his friend got off the bus and told him, "Second grade is fun!"

I have been wondering when Josh would being asking, "Why do we have to homeschool?"

Instead, Josh was the one who was put in the position of answering this question.

"So...what did you tell him?" I asked Josh.

Josh simply said, "Because Jesus told us to."
Simply and sweetly.

How many times have I struggled with that very same question when someone has asked it of me?
How many times have I tried to find an acceptable answer that the world would understand...something dealing with test scores or socialization or smaller class sizes or whatever?
How many times have I tried to cover my own insecurity with answers that have nothing to do with why we really, truly homeschool?

Josh's response to his friend's question made me look long and hard at why we homeschool.

Why, Lord?
Why do we homeschool?

"Because I told you to," He whispers.
Simply and sweetly.

When I'm overwhelmed and confused with curriculum and transcripts and am wondering again,
"Why do we homeschool?"

"Because I told you to," He croons.
Simply and sweetly.

Margaret Feinberg wrote, "Why is simplicity so essential to our lives? When we choose to embrace simplicity, we discover more margin in our lives for all the good things God wants to give us."

I know that when God called us to homeschool, He was calling us to a life a trusting Him.
And a life of the good things that He wants to give us...if I don't get in the way.

Simply and sweetly.
Because He told us to.

Enjoying the simple things,