by Gena Suarez, The Old Schoolhouse®
Twenty years goes by so quickly. The magazine you are holding in your hands or reading online is the most recent issue published by a magazine company, The Old Schoolhouse®, which God allowed to “be born” two full decades ago. For twenty years it’s been only by His grace we have persevered, and how quickly that time has passed. We marvel at His goodness. Our great God is so faithful.
Today take a look into your child’s face and picture him twenty years from now. Very possibly, by then he will be a parent himself, looking into the eyes of his own tiny ones. Can you see your daughter twenty years from now? She might be cuddling a newborn with a toddler by her side. Take it from me (with seven kids, four of whom are now grown and out on their own), you blink, and they grow up. I cannot emphasize how fast it happens. Hold them tightly while they are still little, because a day is coming when you will wish you could have these days back again. You will wish you could have them under your constant care. Influence them for Christ now, because if you don’t, it will be almost impossible later when they are busy with jobs and families and life. Your influence now will last for eternity.
When they leave your home, they will remember a Mama who gave everything, sacrificed, loved them fiercely, and taught them Christ, and they will be equipped; they will be ready. Yes, they will have trials, and they will make mistakes; they are not perfect. But did you ever tell them they would be? Did you ever try to convince them that you were perfect, without flaw?
Of course not. You have modeled love, sadness, grief, kindness, compassion, frustration, fear, intense joy, huge hilarity, repentance, forgiveness, and you have given (and are still giving) these children a daily dose of reality. They see it all. You are a Mama with all of the frailties and imperfections that come with being such. And yet you walk through life as a child of grace, saved by God, walking by HIS strength. You are showing them what is true, what is real. And you’re pointing them to the only One who makes all things perfect in His time because He is the only Perfect One.
Keep doing this. Keep modeling that grace and acknowledging the Lord in all things. You are doing exactly what you are called to do. Keep it real, Mama. His hand is on your head today. And your kids see it.
In Christ, Gena
About Gena
Publishers, Paul and Gena Suarez, who reside in eastern Tennessee, have homeschooled their seven children since 1990. They embrace and promote the Biblical philosophy that “homeschooling” is not so much about schooling/education, as it is about discipleship— bringing up our children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6: 4). The Suarez family wishes to share this vision around the world as they publish the trade magazine for homeschool families, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. They can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright 2021, The Old Schoolhouse®. Used with permission. All rights reserved by the Author. Originally appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade publication for homeschool moms. Read The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com, or download the free reader apps at www.TOSApps.com for mobile devices. Read the STORY of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine and how it came to be.