Let’s Begin with A – Back to School Resource

Today was our first day of school! For the first time in five years of home schooling I’m actually excited for school to start. I was trying to figure out why? HAHA! Maybe it’s the new cabinets and moving all of my supplies upstairs to our dining room. Maybe I’m excited after listening to Sarah MacKenzie’s Read Aloud Revival Podcast. Maybe because we are joining a co-op for the first time this year. I KNOW I am excited for my 4-year-old after reading Elizabeth’s book, Whatever the reason, I’m excited. I’m ready for my third grader, first grader, and preschooler!

I didn’t have everything planned, copied, and organized today. I didn’t cut up all of the things, or have all of the posters on the walls. I didn’t even have lesson plans written (confession: I don’t write lesson plans….eeek! I find it’s just more work.) So we just started. We dove in, with a simplified calendar time. We talked about the letter A, cut up some orange paper, did a puzzle, wrote in our journals and opened our books to look around. We read. We did some phonics and spelling. We just started.

It felt good. My perfectionist tendency is to have everything organized before I start, but no more. If God is teaching me anything through this journey of motherhood and living in the daily, it is to let go of perfect. I heard an amazing quote at the She Speaks conference a few weeks ago: “God wants me to be perfected, not perfect.” Not ideal. Not faultless. I’m not even called to be unblemished. Instead, God is inviting me into His heart to change me. To twist and turn me into the image of Him.

As I walk through my days, perfection is not the goal. Blameless, untarnished, and untainted is not what God is asking of me. Instead, He is asking I allow Him to perfect me. To fulfill me. Help me to be….accomplished.

Philippians 1:6 – “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” 

It begins with A. My children begin to learn the alphabet with A. It’s ok to start here. To start at the beginning. To let God work a a new thing in your life. Even today. I am asking God to teach my children about learning this year.  To be accomplished. To find joy in completing a task. And He is asking me to learn it as well. He is asking me to be easy with my heart and stop being so consumed with perfectionism.

God asking me to be proficient, skillful, and polished. That’s it. A life of abiding is a life working towards being like Christ – not a perfect life.  The beautiful thing for me and my heart is this truth: I don’t have to be perfect. The letter A is no longer a letter showing my accomplishments, but to remind me I’m already accepted!

Today I needed to be reminded of this: I am accepted. Not only am I accepted, I am beloved, a child of God, heaven’s poetry, forgiven, whole in Christ, never alone, an exquisite fragrance, and free. If you are struggling with perfectionism, find peace in this simple truth: You are accepted and you are being accomplished. Perfected over perfect. 

A FUN CHALLENGE:

I challenge you, as the school year begins, take each letter of the alphabet and do TWO THINGS. First, write twenty-six statements beginning with “I am….” Second, write twenty-six statements beginning with “God is….”

Here is a downloadable worksheet to use!