Enjoy and Bless

I thought it might be helpful for me to explain the title of my blog/podcast: “Enjoy and Bless.” Once again, inspiration came from efforts to learn how to declutter and organize my house! 

I was working through the workbook “Organized Simplicity” by Tsh Oxenreider where she challenges the reader to articulate their motivation for decluttering and organizing by crafting a mission statement for your family, a guiding light that can help you make decisions about what to keep, what to let go of, and what to let into your family’s home. It was a turning point for me when God led me to this: Enjoy life together and be a blessing to others. Enjoy and bless. I’ve found it to be an encouraging, inspiring, and practical guide for choosing how we use our time, energy, money, things, etc. 

One concrete example is Christmas gifts. While I take my kids’ wish lists into consideration, I prioritize looking for gifts that our whole family can use and enjoy together while also keeping in mind good stewardship that cares for the earth and reserves some of our spending money for giving to others. Enjoy and bless. 

As a follower of Jesus, love is the guiding principle of my life, and I’ve come to see these two words – enjoy and bless – as each side of the coin of love. I’m sure you’ve wrestled with these sides of love. We say we love something when we enjoy it, and it brings us pleasure. And we say we love something when we sacrifice on its behalf. It seems to me that whole love brings these two together; it’s seen in those times when our joy flows in and out of an experience that also blesses another. 

So how does all of this relate to unschooling? When I began homeschooling, I wrote down my goals for our children’s education. I wanted to inspire in them a love of God, love of people, love of learning, and love of a job well done. I found “schooling” got in the way of my efforts to preserve their love of learning. It was stealing their joy. 

You know what they say is the thief of joy: comparison. And schooling is all about comparison – at least these days. How do you measure up to the test, to your peers, to the expectations of your parents, your teachers, your government. School doesn’t have to be this way, and I am hopeful that our society’s approach to education can change, but in our homeschool, tests, checking the boxes, requiring specific lessons were barriers to our ultimate goals. So I decided to let them go. Unschooling has provided our family a pathway to enjoying life together and being a blessing to others! 

I’m sure I’ll be sharing more specific ways that unschooling has opened doors to enjoyment and blessing in future episodes. But there you have it: Enjoy and Bless. I hope you find ways today to enjoy life with your family and to be a blessing to those around you!