I really enjoy going to Bible Study every week. I think its a great group of ladies and I always learn something new…it may be bibical history or it may be a lesson I need to see. But either way, I always learn something or walk away with something to think about.
This year we are in a study focused on Matthew. For 24 weeks we read a chapter or 2 of Matthew, answer some questions, watch a film and then discuss. This past week was Chapter 13….in this chapter Jesus starts teaching in parables. I like the parables. In the films, Jeff Cavins (the study creator and author) teaches us about the history and puts together pieces of the Bible for us. He shows us how Jesus’ coming is the fulfillment of the covenant that was prophesized in the Old Testament. At the end of Chapter 13 there are a few verses that talk about a man giving up all of his possessions for the “pearl” that is the Kingdom of Heaven. Jeff Cavins talked about us hanging on to what we think is valuable and if we were willing to give it up, we could be that much closer to the Kingdom. Then he compared our lives to a store where the price tags have been switched. Instead of a screw being tagged for $1 it’s now $200 and the power drill is now tagged at $1. So he wanted us to ask ourselves if our tags had been switched. What is taking up our time and taking us away from what is important? At first I think of the question in the most obvious…what is taking me away from trying to be closer to the Kingdom….is it that person who cuts me off in traffic and makes me angry? Is it my desire for a new shirt or pants that causes me to donate less to those who truly need it? But then….AH HA!
What is taking up my time and taking me away from what is most important? I’m not in charge of the time and the schedule I spend with my kids and husband. The private school is. My children get the worst part of my day. In the morning we have to rush off to school and in the afternoon we have to squeeze a half day’s worth of activities in to a 4 or 5 hour period. Why? Why do I pay these people to dictate my life? They tell me when to get up, what my kids have to wear, what we have to do in the afternoon when they get home from school, when we can visit family, when we can’t. The list could go on and on.
And I’m not saying the school is doing anything wrong. I think the school is run very well and the girls have gotten a good education there. But I think it’s just not for us anymore. Sometimes you have to think out of the box to solve your problems. For a while I have worked on trying to give my girls the best of me when I get up in the morning and when they get home in the afternoon. But it’s not just about me and what mood I am in. I need to change any factors I can control that will make our lives better and more peaceful. I want our kids to know that home is a place of solitude and peace. A place to go when life on the outside gets you down and makes you tired.
You know a lot of times when asked what is most important to us, we will quickly answer “family” but many times that is not REALLY true. If family were most important I would be in Arizona right now visiting my new niece and making casseroles to freeze for my sister. If family were most important, I wouldn’t worry about standardized testing and we would visit some wonderful friends in Virginia. If family were most important I would have gone to Montgomery to help when the whole family of our best friends had the flu.
My children will still be able to get a fanstastic education without all of these outside controls being placed on our lives. The Air Force controls our lives so much already that I think we need to limit what other “things” control our lives. Now I know there are things we have to do in life that we don’t want to do….that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about other factors that may “change our price tags”. Well, from now on, we set our prices…..ok…well maybe not from this exact moment on….starting the beginning of school next year.
