The Rhythm of Family Life

After a summer of late mornings and delayed bedtimes, we headed back to school this week... and by school, I mean homeschool in our bonus room.  Although the boys were reluctant to start, after the first morning my oldest son said, "I'm actually glad to have school again."


"What do you mean?" I asked him. 


"Well, I like having something regular to do in the mornings."  I raised my eyebrows and looked at him for more than a moment. 


I have to admit that as much as I love summer, each year as the summer comes to an end, I start to crave the regularity of the school year again.  I enjoy the rhythm of a normal day at home.  I like knowing what we will do each day.  Although he didn't put it into those exact words, I think that's what my son was saying too.  There is peace and security in regular routines and expected schedules.   One of the things we as mothers can provide our children is the safe structure of home.       


There is a verse in the Bible that instructs us to "aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, to work with your own hands... " (I Thessalonians 4:11).  That is a pretty stark contrast with how the world encourages us to live.  A quiet, stable life?  That sounds pretty boring!  Shouldn't we be seeking to become exceptional people and likewise produce exceptional offspring? 


Now, certainly, God does give people extraordinary gifts and special talents.  And we should be giving our best to use those talents to bring Him glory.  But I don't think we are to diminish the importance of the ordinary in a quest for the extraordinary. 

There is a rhythm to family life and somewhere in the ordinary, unspectacular happenings of the day, our children are making their most important memories.  I think we often think it is the large, extraordinary things that we must provide our children to make their childhood special.  Sometimes those spectacular events do occur, and sometimes, though we try to manufacture them, they don't turn out as we imagine.  Besides, I think perhaps it is the mundane, day-to-day things we do that matter more in the long run anyway.

The writer Thomas Moore said, "The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul that their simplicity might suggest."   So, sit on the floor with your children and watch them draw.  Make them breakfast and talk about the day to come.  It might be those moments they remember the most.  


Image Credit: Pottery Barn Kids.