Settling

I love when someone tells me something that I have to “chew” on for a while.  I love thinking about what I believe and why, and how that relates to what I have been told.

This seems to be a season for such things.  Recently my husband and I watched “Waiting for Superman” a movie about the public school system throughout our country and how it is failing so many children, and while we initially assume the low-income families, it is really failing families in every financial bracket.  The movie was amazing, sad, and eye opening.  Everyone should see it – no matter your school choice for your children.

Then I watch video clips like this one

I have always felt like we were going to steer our kids in a direction other than the traditional “Dating” concept so many families are okay with.   But if I tell that to someone else they look at me like I am crazy – lost my mind.  Really? Good Luck with that!  or  How could you not let your kids date? 

But the questions should be : Why do we let them date?  Why is it okay?  Because we did it?  Was it okay when we did it?  And finally the most important question of all :Is it God’s best for us?

Why do we time and again settle for God’s good?  Or God’s okay?  Or even worse – the World’s good/okay/or even best?  Why do we not expect and wait for God’s best?

So, the book I am reading is by Voddie Bachman too -  Family Driven Faith.  It is radical.  I already thought we were radical – we homeschool, we like our kids – I mean like them!  We choose to be with them more than choose to be without them.  And I love this video by Voddie on this subject of homeschooling:

So, here I am,  radical in a sense because we have chosen to take control of the education (academics & spiritual) of our children.  We expect the buck to stop with us.  We do not let our kids do many of the normal kid things these days : video games when they want, tv during the week, movies without regulation – we have decided that every issue is case by case.  Just because a movie is G does not mean my kids will see it.   Video games are not a right, neither is tv.   Those are privileges that are occasional and not frequent.

But as I read this book, I think I may be missing out on some things.  I may have bought into more that I realized with some things I think we should be doing.  Voddie is challenging my perspective on things like Youth Group,  age specific Sunday School, non-family style of worship.  He is making me think about who I allow to have authority over my children and what their qualifications are.

We talk a lot in our family.  We talk about church.  We talk about life.  We talk a whole lot about God, his plan for their lives, his calling for them, his blessings, we talk a lot about it all.  But do I talk enough?  Enough that when my child can choose, he and she will choose to stay on the path they are on?   Is it real enough?  Or do they think they are on this path because we put them there?  Do they know God is real?  Will they trust him on the hard days?  When their friend calls them a fool for believing?  Those are tough questions. 

So I will keep reading what Voddie has to say.  I will keep processing how this impacts our family.  I will keep chewing on it all and making sure I am not settling for okay, or good.  Because when we say yes to Okay – or Good – we say NO to Best.  I do not want to miss his Best for our family.  I want to make sure our choices are God’s Best – not the world’s idea of best, good or okay.

I do not want to settle.  At All.