"When Lightning Strikes" -- (used by permission of the author)

by Cheryl Reynolds

One afternoon last April, lightning struck. A bolt on the front edge of a thunderstorm dropped from the
sky as Caitlin and I watched. Simultaneous light and sound. A nanosecond flash striking ground just
beyond our home.

In an instant, three TVs, a phone, a stereo, a radio, our answering machine, a cable modem, and VCR sizzled into darkness. Our computer screens and one remaining TV took on a rainbow of new colors that later cleared. My first concerns about fire faded annoyance. Inconvenience. Expense. Hassle.

But then I remembered my children had just gotten back in the house from shutting up the barn. We’d
just put our dogs in -- feet from where the bolt struck. And then the blessing appeared. Hassle?
Please… we’re alive.

Sometimes it’s this way with homeschooling, too. It’s easy to see the daily annoyances. The nagging to
get a paper written. The struggle over a math assignment. The book misplaced for the umpteenth
time. The cost of new curriculum. Inconvenience. Expense. Hassle.

Sometimes, it’s easy to miss the blessings.

I have friends, a godly couple who have raised their children in the church. Loving. Consistent. Their daughter is struggling and rebelling. Influenced by friends met in school. Following the teachings of peers and the messages of our culture before heeding the wise counsel of her parents. It’s a story I hear time and again from good Christian parents who have underestimated the power of a secular, godless environment on still impressionable minds.

Some point at my homeschooled children and say, "Cocooned.” Maybe. Probably. But my children home tonight. Their rebellions limited to the annoyance expressed over a paper to be written. A math assignment. A misplaced book. Suddenly, these all seem like blessings -- and they’re just waiting to counted.

This time of year when I’m planning for the next school year, I try to remind myself of what’s timeless
and important and what’s temporal and fleeting -- and somehow that new curriculum doesn’t seem to
cost all that much. Compared to the blessings, a mere pittance.

Blessings to your new homeschooling year,
Cheryl