Peace in the Trenches

As mothers, we brood over our young, like a mother hens brood over their nests. We hope and pray that we can provide a nurturing environment to foster the perfect balance of self-discipline and creative-thinking in our children and ourselves. The Lord is with us in these trenches. We turn inward in faith and find the love and support we need to carry this precious, weighty burdens of motherhood with grace.

Today, I've invited my friend, who is also my Classical Conversations Director, here for lunch. She is a kind woman, who has already graduated two children and is still educating her 9-year-old adopted son. Classical Conversations is a Christian homeschool group that models the Classical Method. We meet once a week.

I am enjoying our homeschool year, but I find that as my children reach higher grade levels, I am pulled in more directions. I need to cultivate personal reserves of peace to continue without becoming overwhelmed. If I allow myself to fall back into "God's arms," to not allow myself to become anxious and fretful, but to take one step at a time, one moment at a time, turning inward to the voice of love, I can maintain the balance of living a disciplined life and a life of joy and freedom. We will always be tempted to give in to fear and self-doubt, but those thoughts are only self-defeating!

In the end, it is accepting the Divine's love for us that will give us peace. When I allow myself to believe this, my own love bubbles up and flows out bountifully!

Today, I will enjoy my children, I will enjoy getting to know my new CC director friend better, and I will give thanks for these blessings as well as for the trials and struggles I'm facing now, knowing that they are helping to shape and beautify me.

May grace cover your lives and your homeschools this week, and may you have peace in the trenches.

Love,

Jennifer Dowell

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