I chuckled walking through the school room the other day. This is real life here:
They're required to tidy up their desks before we start schoolwork, when we complete schoolwork for the day and usually before bedtime too. (The egg cartons are not random; they are actually rock collections from our State Park Geology Rocks session.)
You'd think for how "torturous" (insert overt sarcasm here) schoolwork is that they'd desert the place the moment they close their last book and correct their last mistake. Certainly that is often the case, usually in favor of the Great Outdoors, playing with the animals, swinging on the swings or "jumping" Rory in his agility courses. (That's the latest rage around here.) Ironically, these desks look the way they do because the Blossoms migrate right back to the schoolroom multiple times in the afternoon and evening, to craft, to read, to write or to create. (That makes me happy most days. Excessive paper scraps on the floor tend to stretch me, though I did manage to chuckle and snap these pics after sighting the state of the desks.)
There you go. That's frequently the real state of our school room.
And, while we're talking about "real," let's follow the segue right over to Joshua 24:14.
"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth..."
I was mulling over praying for my children's walk with God. I must confess, I don't just want my children to be upstanding citizens. I don't just want morally upright adults. I earnestly desire for them to walk with God ~ to mold their lives around His desires. To decide, to choose, to walk, to live, because it's what HE wants.
"To serve Him in sincerity..."
So many Christian kids mold to their upbringing and they simply grow in hypocrisy as they near adulthood. Not only are they fake, but they parade around with a conscience that is bone cold to God, wrongly thinking they've got everyone fooled. But God isn't.
Sincerity.
My desire is for more. For a life of sincere service to the Master.
Real. Genuine. Authentic. Whip out every synonym you can think of. Let's pray for our children to not only fear the Lord, but to serve Him in sincerity and in truth.
