Anything but 3

September 18, 2008 at 1:03 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a comment

It’s a lot of work to homeschool so many kids, but life is never dull.  Spending so much time with kids gives me a lot of material to write about-if only I had the time to actually write.

Jessica is starting kindergarten this year and if you know Jessica, you would understand my apprehension about starting school with her.  Jessica knows what she wants to do and she is pretty strong-willed about doing things she doesn’t want to do. For example, up until a month ago, Jessica insisted she could NOT count to 10.  She said she was only 5, so she would only count to 5.  Now I knew she knew how to count to 10, but she definitely wouldn’t do it.  She would count to 5 and then backwards to 1 and somehow knew this was equal to counting to 10 for hide and seek games…she’s a smart cookie. 

Much to my amazement, she has embraced homeschooling and so far, she loves it.  I cannot come up with enough for her to do.  All the things she has been stubborn about trying-writing, counting, etc…she is now eager to learn and do.  Except the number 3.  She is convinced that she cannot write a number 3.  She will “try” but it always ends up either a 2 or a squiggly line. 

I have seen Jessica make the letter B so I know that she is capable of making a 3, but it’s not on her agenda or she has convinced herself she is incapable…who knows.   Her new thing is to copy down BIG numbers off things.  She told me this morning, “I’m looking for BIG numbers to copy in my book, but not numbers with a 3 in them because I can’t make 3’s.”  She feels the need to show me she can do these big things and is trying to prove to me that 3 just isn’t important.

I started thinking about how much we are all like that.  We want to do something for the Lord.  We want to serve or grow in areas and do great BIG things, but we often have a 3 somewhere in our lives.  “God, I will do anything you want except _____” or “I can do this thing, just don’t ask me to do that.”  We limit ourselves so much by thinking we are incapable of doing something or by being unwilling to do something.  God is not usually asking us to do the BIG thing, but rather the small obedient thing.  He is not asking us to do something in our own abilities, but asking for our obedience and then working through us. 

Take a long hard look at the 3 in your life.  What are you missing out of by trying to avoid it?  Have you fooled yourself into thinking the big is better than the 3?  Have you stopped growing because you refuse to tackle the 3 in your life?