“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
–Theodore Roosevelt’s
Tradition suggests that the toughest step in a long journey is the first step. That is no truer than in the homeschooling journey. It can be intimidating, knowing how much is at stake. Because of this reality, some parents wrestle so hard and so long with the decision that their children are practically grown by the time they come to a conclusion. The fear of messing up their children paralyze them from making any choice at all.
Roosevelt’s quote, while perhaps needing a few qualifiers, reminds us that at some point we have to fish or cut bait. The good news is that God’s will will be accomplished in our lives. We have to believe that God’s ability to lead us into His truth is greater than the devil’s ability to trick us. Even if our choices are ordained by God to produce struggles and failures, we must remember that some of the greatest victories have come at the moment of apparent defeat. David with Goliath. The five kings that attacked Jehoshaphat. Christ on the cross. More importantly yet, God meets us where we are at.
When Gideon was met by an angel of God, he was threshing wheat in secret to avoid detection by the marauding Midianites. After a supernatural visitation from God, he was instructed to tear down his father’s altar that was dedicated to Baal. The task was so daunting and Gideon so frightened of his father’s disapproval and the citizens’ wrath that he sneaked in by the cover of darkness to accomplish the deed. This was no confident, mighty man of valor grabbing the bull by the horns and blazing a path to inspire the masses. Instead, it was a man who took a massive step of faith, believing God would back up him up.
Interestingly, he was not upbraided by God his fear and night time attack. In fact, one can’t help but feel God’s pleasure in this initial step of obedience, inglorious as it was. His father’s heart was turned toward him, perhaps in genuine repentance to God as well, and the town’s people anger averted to the point they eventually followed him into battle.
We cannot underestimate the glorious potential of small beginnings. (Zech. 4:10) When you commit to starting devotions in your home, do not allow the enemy to intimidate you by whispering, “You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t even know the Bible that well. How can you teach others?” “You got a ‘C’ in math and you never took anything past geometry. How are you going to teach calculus?” Our retort is we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. (2 Cor. 4:7) He is our confidence and boldness.
If you are considering homeschooling, in your first year or two, or are trying something new as a veteran homeschooler, never forget the glory of making that first step. Whether we knock it out of the park or fail miserably, God is pleased with the effort and faith that effort represents, and He will do far more than we ever dreamt possible.
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