Weekly Wrap-Up: A Sweet Reward is on the Other Side of the Wall

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Okay, Weekly Wrap-Up friends--I have a special message for y'all today. It's kind of a message from the past...from my past...that popped up again just a few days ago. Let me explain.

Before the school year began, I was getting the boys' books together (Over the summer, I keep my curriculum and other books stashed in a closet), and I came across a devotional book that I used many years ago when the kids were little and I was just starting out homeschooling. The title of this little gem is Bread for each day ; 365 devotional meditations. (You can get it on Amazon for .04--yes, four cents!) The copyright is 1962, so it's an old book, but it contains so many valuable truths! When I rediscovered it, I decided that the boys and I would use it together this year. We have really enjoyed it. Well, last week, as we were having our devotional time together before we started school, I opened the book to the day's reading, entitled, "A Sweet Reward." I saw that I had underlined a few things, and I had written a note on it, way back in 1998. Then, my children were 6, 4, and 1. (That was a whole different world. Days were long. Boys were short. LOL.) The passage for the day was Proverbs 11:11-18. The meditation verse was, Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded (2 Chronicles 15:7). Let me share an excerpt from the actual devotion text with you:

The story is told of a woman who had a rare rosebush. She worked over it for weeks, but saw little or no results for her labor. One day she observed a crack in the wall and upon investigation found a small shoot of the rosebush running through the crevice. When she went to the other side of the wall, she found roses blooming in splendid beauty and her labor rewarded. Some of us, too, work year after year seeing little if any result, but we are not to be discouraged, for our work is truly blooming. However, it may be we shall only see its luxuriant growth when we get on the other side of the wall!

The line I have underlined above is one that I had underlined in the book. Out to the side, I had written: This passage rings in my heart today as further encouragement from God that I am to "press on" with homeschooling. Thank you, Lord, for my "precious seeds": Danya, David, and Derek.

Well, moms--I'm a crier, and I just wept my way through sharing that day's devotional with my boys. I rejoiced remembering how every step of the way along my homeschooling journey, the Lord provided encouragement. Sometimes I didn't know how much I needed it until He gave it to me. And sometimes--oh, you know those times!--I was desperate to hear from Him that I was to press on.

The Other Side of the Wall

It is indeed a sweet reward to see the other side of the wall. Today, I already am able to see so many rewards from the investment I made in my children. And I continue to press on, because I'm not finished! Some days, you just have to roll up your sleeves and say out loud, "I'm going forward." And just go!

Homeschool Mom, may you see your own roses blooming today, and if you can't see them just yet, may you somehow catch the scent of their lovely fragrance, wafting its way over the wall.



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