Enjoy and Bless

(Totally off topic intro: I’ve noticed as I’ve been recording these podcasts that my voice fluctuates from week to week, day-to-day, kind of like my handwriting does. I don’t know if anyone else experiences this: Sometimes when I sit down to journal, my handwriting flows smoothly and beautifully, and it looks presentable, like you’d want it to look, and then other times it comes out really scritch scratch, illegible even to myself, and I don’t know what that is. But I’ve noticed that with my voice on these podcasts, so just an interesting observation. 

Perhaps my voice does seem a little scratchy this morning. I think it’s just early morning, waking up. But all the kids are inside. It’s a Saturday morning. They’re in playing video games with dad – which is something they like to do when we don’t have Saturday activities. So, I am trying to take advantage of a little quiet time out on the porch to record an episode.)

So it is mid-April, and around here, that means we’re about a week or so past spring break, and I’ve been thinking about lately with school breaks, it’s been interesting trying to figure out how to respond when people ask, oh, what did you do for your break or how was your break? You guys traveling? What are your plans? 

And well, we do take breaks from our day-to-day. We take vacations and trips, but it’s not the same kind of break that everyone else is talking about. 

And I started thinking about how often in school or the workplace, people feel stuck in situations where they’re living for the weekend. Or just counting down the days until their break. And If work or school feels overwhelming or tedious, that you’re just trying to get through the days until you get to do what you really want to do. 

And we are not experiencing that in life right now. Obviously, there’s sometimes circumstances where, you know, hard seasons in life where, sure, you’re trying, you want to get to a better, more flowing season of life, and I’m not talking about that. I’m talking more about the systems in our society that kind of arbitrarily put us in those positions. 

And I guess I was thinking about how it’s like the rat race that we talk about in the workplace where you’re just work hard, hard, hard, hard to get the promotion. And then you get the promotion, and you work hard, hard, hard to get the next promotion, and, um, that’s what the rat race is, right? 

And I feel like we have taken that approach of adult life that a lot of us talk about that we don’t want. And we brought it into our schools and I feel sad about that. That it’s work hard, hard, hard to get the grades, get the achievements, check off the boxes, so that someday, eventually you’ll have what you need to live the life that you want to live. And it ends up feeling like an unending cycle of pursuing things that never seem to come to fruition. 

And I was thinking about how this approach kind of treats humans like we’re machines and we’re not machines, we’re not designed to intake constant information or churn out consistent product, to just run, run, run, and then maybe take a week long maintenance break to get, you know, systems cleaned out, oiled. That’s not what we are. And we shouldn’t ask ourselves and others to be that way. 

So I was thinking about how this relates to sustainable pace and sustainable living. Sustainable living: it respects self and others in our world. And it recognizes that we are human organisms, that really we’re more like plants than machines. 

I have this little sign that I think I picked up at Dollar Tree in our playroom, and it’s a cute little picture of plants, and it says, 

“Sow, water, wait.” 

And I was thinking about how we are more like that than a machine that you just make a couple adjustments and run it. Or a computer program: You type in some code and run it. And with humans and plants and organisms, it takes a lot more kind of behind the scenes processes that we don’t even really understand or know a lot about. You plant seeds, you put ideas in, you feed it with a good environment, and then you wait, and it takes time, and it takes rest. 

And like plants need different types of environments to thrive. And humans, I feel, are the same that, you know, someone’s going to grow and learn and excel in one particular environment where someone else would feel frustrated and stuck. But you put that frustrated and stuck person in a different environment, and they thrive and flourish in the right environment. 

We really don’t need to be taught in the way that a plant doesn’t need to be encouraged to grow up. It just happens. We just grow and learn. Because that’s what we were designed to do. 

So I’ve been thinking about this sustainable pace idea and I thought of my husband because he is fortunate to be in a career doing something he absolutely loves. He’s a computer programmer. And even when we’re on break, when we take trips or we’re on vacation, if he has downtime, he’s still computer programming. He’s not doing it for his work. He’s doing side projects and playing with ideas or new tools or reading books. He just loves it. And so he doesn’t need a break from it in the sense of, oh, I’ve been working so hard on this task, and I need to take a week away from it. He loves it and he keeps doing it. 

Okay, it is now the afternoon. I got interrupted this morning, so I’m back to try to finish this episode. Um, I was talking about my husband loving the work that he does, not just his paid job, but just the work that he does of computer programming. And I do want to clarify when I say that when you are doing what you love, you don’t need a break. A key part of that is when you’re working at a sustainable pace, when you’re not in a situation where you’re forced to work too hard, too long, and not have built in regular breaks. 

I think of the world of exercise. This is a known concept, right? That you don’t exercise really, really hard nonstop for 4 weeks. And then take a week break. You exercise a little bit every day and you have recovery days. You’re going at a sustainable pace. It actually builds strength and momentum and you can keep going and keep growing. And you don’t get burnt out. 

It’s the same with our brains that with learning that when we receive new information, when we experience something new, try something new, our brains need time to process that new experience, that new information. 

I mean, I find that amazing about how God designed our bodies to need sleep and how we’ve been learning that during sleep, our brains do process a lot of that information and I think about even, even the sleep that a lot of our children are not getting if they’re staying up late and have to wake up really early to get on that school bus. It’s not sustainable. It’s such, I don’t want to spend my time criticizing current systems because I know that that’s just the reality of our society these days, but it’s just things to think about. How can you make sure your children are getting enough sleep? How can you make sure they are having enough boredom time for their brains to be creative and process what has already been put in?

When I was a new mom, I think I had already had both girls, the oldest was two-ish and the second was a baby. I had some college friends that had already started homeschooling. And when they heard that I was interested in homeschooling, they all signed this book and gifted it to me written by Sarah Mackenzie called Teaching from Rest. It is a fantastic book, and I have lost my copy, and I’m hoping I can find it. But right at the outset in the introduction, she uses this phrase, slow and sane education, and that just jumped off the page at me, and I said, I want that. That’s what I want. I don’t want a rushed education. I don’t want an overwhelming, stressful education for my kids. I want it to be slow and sane. I want it to be enjoyable. I want it to, I want to absorb it and rest in it and wrestle with it. So that phrase has just really stuck with me. 

And I’ve been thinking about as a follower of Jesus, just the impact that has on feeling the freedom to not be in the rat race to not need to check off boxes or get gold stars or trophies or achievements or diplomas. We don’t have to chase after any of those things. Our value has already been established by being created in the image of God. We come into the world with such tremendous value, that we don’t have to pursue these things that the world runs after. 

Matthew 6:25-34 talks about this, about that we don’t need to worry about what we’ll eat or what we’ll wear, but that we’re to seek first God’s kingdom, and He will provide for us. And I’ve been thinking about how the way that we live and work matters. It matters more than the achievements and the grades and the outcomes. Things like honesty, humility, compassion and peace. And most of all love, right? Those things matter more than the grades and trophies and diplomas. 

Or I think of Ephesians 4:28, that says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” I love that verse because it communicates that the reason we work isn’t to achieve better and better lives and circumstances for ourselves. God calls us to work and contribute to society so that we can be a blessing, so we can share,  so we can support ourselves and our own lives and support others. Sustainable work and sustainable education puts us in that position to enjoy each day, not chasing the next day or the next thing. And to share with others, to bless others and contribute to society. 

This is the kind of lifestyle I feel that unschooling has provided our family, and I am so grateful. Maybe you feel God calling you to a similar path. If you do find yourself in a season of living for the weekend, I wonder if there’s changes you can make in your life so that you can sincerely enjoy each day. It may be as simple as starting a gratitude journal and just looking for the positive that’s already there. I found that really impactful in my own life and I’ve been in hard seasons where it’s not necessarily situations that I can change. I’m in circumstances that just are the way they are. But we can train our brains to look for the good and to see the good and celebrate little things in life that are valuable, but often overlooked. 

And 1st Thessalonians 4:11-12 says “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, so that you may walk properly before outsiders, and be dependent on no one.” So again, just this idea that we don’t have to be pursuing big glamorous achievements or positions. We can live quiet, humble lives that are meaningful and enjoyable and a blessing to the world. Slow and sane, quiet and humble, enjoying and blessing. This is the type of life I want for our family. 

It doesn’t mean that no one should excel or shine. That is not what I’m saying. We all have our unique paths. And sometimes God leads people on big, shiny, extravagant paths where they are just designed to shine brightly in ways that the world does celebrate, and if that’s the path that God has for you, that’s amazing. 

But sometimes the way a person shines in the world is quiet and unnoticed. It’s something that the world would never pay attention to, but it brings tremendous blessing to the people around them. In God’s kingdom the quiet path is no less valuable than the visible accomplishment celebrated by society. 

I want my children to feel the freedom to follow the unique path God has specifically designed for them and not chase after what others or the world says is best. I don’t want them to live for the weekend or a nebulous “someday.” I want them to feel fully alive each day, doing things they love, making the world a better place, and respecting the limits of their humanity at a sustainable pace. 

This is the kind of lifestyle I feel that unschooling has provided our family, and I am so grateful. Maybe you feel God calling you to a similar path. If you do find yourself in a season of living for the weekend, I wonder if there’s changes you can make in your life so that you can sincerely enjoy each day. It may be as simple as starting a gratitude journal and just looking for the positive that’s already there. I found that really impactful in my own life and I’ve been in hard seasons where it’s not necessarily situations that I can change. I’m in circumstances that just are the way they are. But we can train our brains to look for the good and to see the good and celebrate little things in life that are valuable, but often overlooked. 

Or maybe you are in a season where you get to do what you love, but I would just challenge all of us, whichever side of the path we’re on, to take some time to assess if we are moving at a sustainable pace, if there’s ways that we might be pushing ourselves too hard and need to step back, things we need to let go of or say no to, so that we get that rest and recovery time built into our daily, weekly rhythms, so that we’re not feeling that countdown: When do I get the next break? Look for ways to bring breathing room into your day, to keep that sustainable pace. 

All right, thanks for listening. I hope you find ways to enjoy your life this week and be a blessing to someone. 💕