A New Level of Awareness

If you haven't noticed - Keri Tibbet's article from headgates.org really affected me.  In fact, I haven't been thinking of too much else.  I've even stayed awake at night thinking about the changes we need to make.  I think my mind must have needed to process it all because it wouldn't let me sleep.

It's like this:
When I first read A Thomas Jefferson Education - I got a glimpse of a vision that I knew I wanted for my children.  I've been working on making that a reality, but I was a little fuzzy on the details.  Certain things didn't come together how I envisioned and I couldn't quite figure out what it was.

My good friend, Lara, had talked to me about some of the these ideas, and - even though I thought she was a little extreme sometimes - I liked the picture she presented, but I didn't know exactly why.

These last several months, we've been reading the Little House series as a family.  I loved the respect that the children had for their parents.  I loved how hard the family worked to help one another.  Sacrificing for each other's happiness was second nature to them.  I loved how they appreciated the simple, beautiful things around them. 

I wanted all of that.  I had been working towards that goal, but I thought that, in reality, it was just impossible in our day and age.  We just have too many things to really appreciate them all.  Plus, how could my kids respect me the way the Ingalls respected their parents when all around them children are disrespectful - they would just think I was being a little absurd if I set such high standards.

Also, I couldn't very well get rid of so many possessions - all of their friends have them, and they would just think I was the meanest mom in the world.  I didn't want to sacrifice our relationship for it. 

I guess what I didn't understand was that my children actually want the same thing I want.  They are yearning for it.  We all are.  It is inherent in us.  I had distracted my children from it because I had bought into the cultural messages that all these "educational" and "creative" things that we had were good for them.

I was reaching for a vision that I saw in the distance.  Keri Tibbett's article took me from where I was and placed me in the vision.  Things became very clear to me.   I am no longer concerned with how much of the world I should let into my house, in order to still be in the world but not of the world.  I now see what the true purpose of my home is.

The purpose of my home is not to provide a miniature world (with less dangers) where they can practice being in the real world. The purpose of my home is to be a place permeated with truth, a place where we see, read, hear, speak, play, touch, and breathe things of eternity - of substance - of real value.  Children nurtured in such a home will have higher tastes, will yearn for higher things.  The flimsy, empty happiness that saturates our world will not appeal to them.  How could I not see this before?

There were plenty of times I saw them wasting their time on silly toys and activities when I knew they could be doing something better.  I figured they would someday realize that they wanted something more.  I didn't even think about the fact that I was the one that placed those distractions in our home!  It didn't even occur to me that I should just get rid of them.  After all, what kind of mom gets rid of things like coloring books?  Every child should have access to coloring books, and stacks of paper, and a variety of toys, and different art utensils, and all sorts of materials to create whatever their heart desires right?  I wouldn't want to stifle their creativity by not giving them access to all of these different mediums and experiences!

Why did I think all that stuff would foster creativity? I don't know.  I just thought so because everyone else said so.  It's so obvious!  The stuff gets in the way, it numbs creativity, it fosters dependence, it crowds out real feeling.

I am thankful children are so resilient.  I've seen immediate progress as we've made some changes the last few days.  I sure could have saved so much money and time if I had realized this sooner though.  At least I see it now.  It did make Easter shopping quite the hassle yesterday though.  I could not think of a single thing I wanted to buy them.  I'll have to figure out some way to make the holidays special without all of the materialism. 

We're making a few changes.  I'll be blogging about them on upcoming posts I'm sure.  Listening to our church leaders at general conference yesterday was amazing and so motivating.  I can't wait to make our home more of what it should be....