When I was a teenager, I wrote to my grandmothers about 4 times a year. I lived far away so letters were the basis of our relationship. We chose what shared in letters. Letters are labor intensive and it is easy to leave out the bad stuff.

Both were important to me for different reasons. My paternal grandmother had a dry sense of humor and an appreciation of heritage. Words were her friend and she made her own rules-and everyone else’s rules when at all possible! Her love of order was one face of God.

My maternal grandmother, taught me to sew. There was a look of peace on her face when she was sewing. Sewing was of her vocation in life. I can still see her face in my mind. Hers was the face of God, too.

I hope my grand children see my face as the face of God. . But we don’t use only letters-we have video chat. The technology of distance relationships is different. The kids see me when I’m sunburned or on bad hair days. If I’m tired it shows when we talk or video chat. Perhaps this is a less than perfect image when they talk with me, but I hope they come to learn that less than perfect is also a face of God.

Are you headed back to school somewhere? Maybe you are going to online education, home schooling or public or private school or maybe, Sunday school. The story of these fish will help you understand why going back to school is such a gift in our faith lives no matter how we learn.

You may think, “Gee, Christy has beautiful koi in her faith garden pond.” You would be wrong. These are 28 cent gold fish from your local retail aquarium tank. They are 3 years old and we started with 13 fish, a baker’s dozen. I didn’t choose colors or shapes, I just said, “grab some fish.” But these fish are special. We care for them all year long even in the winter. Our family baby pool gets rigged with lights and filled with water. We catch the fish (a humorous family event including waders and many nets) and keep them in the garage all winter. Then in the spring our fish come back to their pond. They return to a place to grow together in community.

What’s interesting is that no matter what happens, (vacation with little feeding, the local dog bathing in our pond, a great blue heron looking for lunch) these fish seem to grow in size, number and individuality. They bring me great joy. I don’t name them, usually. Although there is one little black and orange one I call “Halloween”. Just knowing that they are gathering in community in a seasonal way to flourish makes me happy.

I think that no matter how your “school” is gathered in community in the fall, God is present. This is how it is meant to be. Learners of all sizes, new ideas and different shapes and colors, come together at a predetermined time. They grow and flourish in community. No matter what or how the “school” happens, God is there. In the hard work of making a community in a public school classroom or a home school that cooperative effort is blessed.

So bring in the goldfish and build some community as you go to “school” together remembering God’s many blessings.

I love to write poetry about things that kids and adults question. Here’s a poem that might help you talk through some issues with your children before they go back to school. Help kids to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” How am I like each child in my class? How am I different? How do we treat our neighbors?

Neighbor
He sits next to me on the bus,
Others say he’s different than us.
He looks just like a kid to me
With big brown eyes and missing teeth.

I guess I must like different friends
Which means I use a different lens.
That sees the things that are the same.
No matter looks or family name.

Take a “different” walk after reading this poem. Carry a clipboard with paper and walk around a block or through a park. List or draw all the different things you see about people. Go home and pray. “Thank you God, for making each of us different.” Read the poem again. Take an “alike” walk with your clipboard. Take lots of paper to write down the things in others that are “alike”. Pray again, thanking God for all the things we share with others.
10 Spiritual Poems for Children and Families will be available on this website in late September.

Okay in golf it’s called a fairway. Who knows what it is called in mini golf. But it’s that long designated place that the ball travels propelled by you toward the cup or hole. The goal is to use that fairway to the best of our ability every time we swing the club.

Isn’t that the goal of faith in home schools, too? We keep working at moving ahead one lesson, one discussion, one project at a time. Even if we don’t quite get to the cup to score, we go ahead. We mark our place and try again.

In home schools we teach our kids faith from where they are not from where the group has landed. Faith in integrated into daily living. In congregations, I often see the home school families as those who have the way of faith well defined. Kids are sewing fleece blankets between subjects to take to a crisis nursery. Families are home and know that their elderly neighbor hasn’t mowed her lawn and they check on her. Home school families have the unique ability to choose the way of faith every day and all day.

How is your home school connected to others? Have you chosen the faith way?

I love to write poetry about things that kids and adults question. Here’s a poem that might help you talk through some issues with your children before they go back to school. Help kids to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” How am I like each child in my class? How am I different? How do we treat our neighbors?

Neighbor
He sits next to me on the bus,
Others say he’s different than us.
He looks just like a kid to me
With big brown eyes and missing teeth.

So what is different I’d like to know?
He laughs and smiles from head to toe.
He sings off key in music class.
And quiets down when the teacher comes past.

I guess I must like different friends
Which means I use a different lens.
That sees the things that are the same.
No matter looks or family name.

Take a “different” walk after reading this poem. Carry a clipboard with paper and walk around a block or through a park. List or draw all the different things you see about people. Go home and pray. “Thank you God, for making each of us different.” Read the poem again. Take an “alike” walk with your clipboard. Take lots of paper to write down the things in others that are “alike”. Pray again, thanking God for all the things we share with others.
10 Spiritual Poems for Children and Families will be available on this website in late September.

Doesn’t this picture just make you want to sit down and rest? Why don’t we? Yes, the programming is about to start. Yes, we now have 6 meetings a week to tell everyone else what we are doing. Suddenly the entryway of our faith community looks like a grocery store of summer reports and upcoming events. But our Creator wants us to rest. We are created in God’s image and rest is a part of our faith life.

Try these activities that I call “One Minute Sabbath”. You can do them where you work. Don’t try them in the car for obvious reasons. Rest, it is part of God’s plan.

1. Sit tall in the chair in your office. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths blowing out the frustrations and bringing in new breath. Think about the full moon giving strength and life to the world. Imagine that brilliance of the full moon shining on you now. Absorb the energy of the moon and go back to work.

2. Go to the nearest kitchen. Turn on the faucet so that the water slowly drips. Imagine a stone beneath the dripping faucet. Will each drip change the stone? Not right away but over time. Take a deep breath. Be patience with your self as you work. God’s time produces slow changes.

So find a bench. Sit down. Let your mind, body and soul rest. Be still and know your Creator.

Imagine needing six legs to walk. These creatures are different and yet, share the need for six legs. If we think of six things about faith that are necessary to keep us moving ahead, what do we define? What are the most important requirements to keep us moving ahead day-by-day in our faith lives?

Here are the “six legs” to my faith life.
1. Prayer (Being open and prayerful every moment to keep my heart and God always in conversation)
2. Resiliency (The ability to bounce back from tough times.)
3. Community (Family and friends who believe that my life is made in God’s image)
4. Service (Ways to help others in my backyard and far away)
5. Reading Holy Writings (Old Testament, Koran, New Testament, History, stories of the people and others)
6. Worship (Alone, with family, in a faith community)

What would the six legs of your faith look like? How would they be the same or different than mine? How do those six legs keep you balanced and moving ahead?

I once went to a class called, “Midlife Spirituality”. The youngest person was 26 and the oldest was 82. I was somewhere in the middle! There are lots of words used to describe adult spirituality. We hear terms like Sr. Citizen or empty nest or even vital ager. There’s a newer way to describe this as the last third of life. I like second stage beauty.

Beauty in second stage has less to do with outside trappings and more to do with inside wisdom. As that inner knowledge of the world comes out, it enhances the beauty of the world. In my second stage, my emphasis is on my role as grandparent, parent and wisdom woman. The combination of the beautiful gift of wife, teacher and parenthood in my earlier years with the beauty of wisdom and patience in my second stage helps me to see my life as a continuum in partnership with God rather than a single event.

I want to tell you about the bloom in the photograph. This is a
Sweet Scabious “Black Knight”. It is a long stemmed annual and is available at http://www.selectseeds.com It makes gorgeous bouquets. The deep maroon color comes out first and then a few days later along comes the pink detail. The second stage makes the first stage more beautiful. Both stages celebrate the beauty in God’s garden.

Remember that as you bloom, you, too, are a celebration of God’s creation.

These little purple flowers are native to prairies and called Obedience Plants. When I first planted them, I thought, “Wow, something will finally obey me.” I was wrong. These gems grow anywhere they wish and make the garden beautiful where ever they go. If I transplant 2 plants, I get 6 plants. They make great cut flowers and come during August to bring purple and white beauty to the fall colors.

Maybe the problem is that I think anyone should obey me. Obedience isn’t that easy for me or for most people. I guess I should concentrate on obeying rather than obedience. When my life centers around, others obeying me, I seem to get all wound up with myself as the center of the universe. Hmmm… maybe these plants are here on earth to remind me that I need to be obedient to God. Maybe they are teaching me a lesson about whom I need to obey.

And to think, I cannot control these plants. They pop up anywhere and everywhere to remind me that God is asking me to obey.

Who do you obey?

As home schooling families you have chosen a different path for educating your child. There are so many places that want you to follow their path. Advertising says, “If you want to be a good parent or make your child special, buy this.” But my sense has always been that home schooling families are confident and already know that their child is special without the world’s trimmings.

So you have chosen the path of home school, how do you find a faith path? Faith paths come in many ways. Looking for a faith path can lead you to a mother/child book study, play group or sharing time. These might meet in your faith community or they might meet in a different faith community. You might find a group of people in your neighborhood that want to get together once a month or once a week and work on projects to help others.

The questions to ask as you look for a faith path are,
1) What is your goal? Are you looking for religious education, community or maybe an outlet for family service to others?
2) How can this faith experience be shared with others? Are all welcome?
3) Are hospitality and openness part of this experience? Are we learning more about faith?

Keep these questions in mind as you hunt for a path that leads you to faith experiences for your home school family. Enrich your lives through experience of faith. Make this a priority in your home school.