.She Wished She had Baked Less Bread.

I read a blog article a few days back about blind spots in homeschooling. It made me take a deep breath and think. There was one part of the article that really struck a chord with me. This is what the author had to say:

A friend of mine, a homeschool mom, just passed away of cancer. In the week before she died, I asked her if she had any regrets in her life. She told me she wished she had baked less bread - she said if she had it to do over again she would buy bread and spend more time with her children. (emphasis mine)

I have been convicted in the last several months to year of things very similar to this in my own life. For about two years I poured a lot of time, energy, and money into feeding my family as naturally and organically as possible, and I was consumed by living healthy. I spent a lot of time making things from scratch and preaching on the need for people to get back to eating naturally. It in and of itself was and is a good thing. A very good thing. I do want to be healthy, and I want my children to be healthy, but not at the expense of relationships or cherishing moments with my children or sharing the gospel with the world. There is nothing wrong with grinding wheat berries and scouring books on eating the way Jesus did, but it consumed me. So I have had to step back. I still want to feed my family healthy foods, and I still make much of our food from scratch. But I am thankful and praise God to be able to write that it no longer consumes me.

Yes, there are certain things we still do that come easily to me - like trading our white pasta for whole wheat, and eating homemade foods versus packaged/processed foods. But I am not more spiritual than the next mom who feeds her children lunchables. Just eating healthy did not bring me closer to God or make me a better Christiam. I am learning to expend my energy in other better things. I am sure an organic/whole food activist could argue this, but I see in Scripture where it is my Christian mandate to advocate and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves - orphans, widows, the poor and destitute (Proverbs 31:8, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17), and I do not see a Christian mandate for me to feed my family completely organically/naturally. So, I have been working on not being consumed by that, and rather being consuned by Jesus Christ and his demands on my life. It's the best....well the only thing worth being consumed by.

That is just one example of where God has been pointing out a blind spot to me. I could probably sit here and think of ten more, and humble myself enough to relate to much of what was written in that article. I am thankful that God continues to work on me, and I pray that he breaks me over and over inorder that I would reflect Jesus in me.

Please head over to Josh Harris's blog, and read the article for yourself. I do believe it pertains to Christians in general and not only homeschoolers, although the article is targeted to the latter. Then hop back here and let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts and have some dialogue with you.