Homeschooled and I'm glad!

Well, dear friends, earlier this week I returned from our annual CHEF of Louisiana Homeschool Convention. I heard some wonderful teaching and have been inspired and challenged in a lot of my ways of thinking.
You know, just when I say "Okay, I'm pretty comfortable with where I am in life" WHAM! People come along and challenge my thinking. I start to ask earth shattering questions such as "why?".

"Why?" is one of my favorite questions to ask myself. Strange, it may very well be. I mainly ask "Why am I doing this?". If my answer is not "because God wants me to" I must rethink my action. Why do I read what I read, listen to what I listen to, say what I say, meditate on what I meditate on, write what I write and watch what I watch? If my answer is anything other than "To bring me closer to God", "To bring someone else closer to God", or something frighteningly similar, I wonder if I should pursue it. For me "to broaden my mind", "to entertain me" and "because I have nothing better to do" (along with many others) are unacceptable answers.

I saw a car commercial once that really made me think (yes, you heard me correctly: I did say that a commercial had a big impact on my life). This guy was driving down the road and at every turn, every stop light and along the road side were people holding up signs that said "Seize the Moment!" Now, their point was to hurry up because the sale on this wonderful car would be ending soon, but it made me think. I had heard the phrase "Seize the Moment" before, but had never really considered it. It made me think of the scripture that says that whatever we do, we are to work at it with all of our might and that all that we do is to be done to the glory of God. I purposed at that point that God would be the focus of everything I did, from what I read, to what I watched, to what I think about, and the list goes on.
I have failed miserably at this, but am determined to press forward, forgetting what is behind and striving towards to goal. That goal, of course, is Holiness and Perfection. The "Be perfect as I, your God am perfect" mandate seems like it could take a bit of surrendering.

Edification in every word I speak is part of that mandate of perfection. Now, I don't usually make a habit of being harsh and cruel in my speech, but I wouldn't say that I only edify either. After the conference, we had the privilege of spending a good bit of time with one of the main speakers. I was very impressed on how he used his tongue. Before he would answer a question, or even say anything at all, he would pause. Now, at first, I thought it was just aggravating "Can't this guy answer any faster?! He's leaving me hanging!" But then I realized what he was doing. He was deciding what to say before he said it. Novel idea...I try to remember to implement it.