If you’ve been homeschooling any length of time— if you’ve even mentioned to another person that you’re considering homeschooling— chances are you’ve heard this one:
“There’s no way I could homeschool my kids. I just don’t have the patience.”
That’s your cue to smile compassionately, to nod, and adjust your halo. Or maybe you’re the type to demur, humbly admitting that you aren’t endowed with supernatural endurance, either. Both takes, I’m starting to think, are off the mark.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” —Galatians 5:22-23
Patience, as it turns out, isn’t a spiritual gifting. It isn’t a talent the Lord presses into us in varying degrees, expecting us to share it with others. It’s not something you’re born with. In the Bible, it’s specifically listed as being something we must “walk with the Spirit” to develop in our lives after accepting Christ.
In other words, it takes work. We have to realize our lack, set it as a goal, ask the Lord to help us develop it, and then give ourselves opportunities to ripen the small, tight bud of that fruit.
Opportunities like homeschooling.
Opportunities that stretch us, that show us where we need to submit in our hearts, our wills, and our expectations. Opportunities that are uncomfortable, sometimes even unwelcome. Opportunities that set us up to fail, but require us to return again, admitting that we fell short, and asking God for the strength to finish the race this day in a manner befitting our title as Christ Follower.
Paul lists the Fruits of the Spirit as traits to which we should all aspire and nurture. A healthy Christian is one who not only displays those fruits in his or her life, but is also seeking, daily, to grow in them. Who says, “There’s no way I can’t yell at my spouse. I just don’t have the self-control,” or “I’d like to take care of my elderly mother, but I just don’t have the love”? No— we feel what we should be practicing in those moments, and we beg the Spirit to do its work in us, allowing us to walk in the way that shows that we no longer “gratify the desires of the flesh,” but have found freedom in Christ.
From now on, when a fellow believer tells me they don’t have the patience to homeschool, I’m going to suggest that they ask the Lord to help them cultivate that fruit in their lives. I’m going to share how He has used homeschooling to help me in my pursuit of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and yes, patience. Because no, I don’t have a halo. But like all believers, I do have the Holy Spirit working in my life to guide me.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. —John 14:26
