New Year’s Motivation

“Tomorrow, tomorrow, we’ll finish this tomorrow. It’s only a day away.”

Procrastination can become the norm in a homeschool family’s day unless we are diligent to inspire motivation. Certainly, even in the best of homeschooling families, it is incredibly easy to get off track, to put off until tomorrow, next week, or even next year what should be done today. Excuses are ample and more often than not, they are logical. We are often distracted from our goals by “worthy” alternatives.

How do we feed our “motivational needs?” In the schools and even in the workplace, positive peer pressure, competition, and accountability are huge motivators as well as fame and fortune. Yet in an environment centered on family and learning, these motivators often test the boundaries, bring frowns, and battle our Biblical studies.

Where does this leave us? How does your family stay motivated?

I suggest to my kids that they are working to prepare themselves to say “Yes” to whatever our Lord calls them to do (If they don’t do their assignments as best they can, if they don’t embrace the experiences prepared for them, they may very well miss out on some of the “tools” which they would have needed to be able say “yes”). We don’t know what purpose God has for each of them yet, but we do know that they should prepare themselves to be ready. As the Bible shows us with the story of the virgins at the wedding feast, the unprepared may miss out.

For instance, if our Lord offers a person all the experiences it would take for that person to embrace a vocation as a “nurse,” yet that person doesn’t do his/her job to prepare for that vocation (i.e. chooses to be lazy along the way), then he or she may not be able to say “yes” and may miss out on the graces which our Lord prepared for them (and for others) through his/her participation in that vocation. HIS plans for us fit each person perfectly, but if we are not prepared, we might miss out. Every choice along the way matters.

Where does this leave homeschooling parents? With the incredible responsibility to exhibit a commitment to examples of diligence in all aspects of our lives (Doing the “Have to Dos” before the “Want to Dos”).

That said, one of the tools our Lord provides may be that impromptu social experience that interrupts our plans for the day, but how do we know? Grace is given to us through our relationship with HIM. When we invest our time with our relationship with our Lord, the “time” tends to come back multiplied. The gift of peace regarding our decisions is based on how in line with HIS will we have placed ourselves and our family. The first commandment—“Have no other gods…” is our motivation and the motivation that we need to pass down to our children: “Trust that HE knows you, loves you, and will call you to something that is perfect for you. Be prepared to answer, ‘Yes, Lord, Here I am. I am ready.’”

Smiles,

Mrs. G.

In case you don’t know me, my name is Mrs. G.. I founded Building Brilliant Minds Online in 2009. I have authored several courses in Architecture, Biblical Fine Arts, Photography and Dance. www.buildingbrilliantmindsonline.com. My beginning courses may also be accessed for FREE with a www.schoolhouseteachers.com membership.