Lessons from Acts: Stop Looking at the Sky (devotion)

Several years ago we were part of an amazing homeschool playgroup. We would meet weekly at a local park. While the kids ran around like crazy, the moms had a chance to socialize sharing schooling frustrations, joys, and ideas. We also went on field trips together, attended birthday parties, and enjoyed other learning experiences. It was great because Sam was guaranteed a chance to see friends and play at least once a week. And I was guaranteed the same thing. Our family has moved twice since then and, each time we enter a new community, I’m trying to find another group just like it.


In the beginning of Acts, Jesus has been resurrected and He is giving His followers final instructions. Then He ascends into heaven. He had told them on more than one occasion that He needed to go so that the Holy Spirit could come. He reminds them of this twice before He ascends (Acts 1:5, 8). Yet in verse 10, it says Jesus’ followers were gazing into the sky where he’d gone.

It continues, “…two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” My paraphrase goes something like this, “Why are you looking at the sky? Get on with what He told you to do.”

I’d have been right there with them staring at the clouds. If those two white-robed men hadn’t come, how long would those people have stayed in that spot? Would they have built a shire or altar and had followers come from all over to the place from which Jesus ascended? I can imagine them wanting to hold onto Jesus and all He had done, afraid of a life without His physical presence. I think we are all guilty of this—holding onto the past and thus missing the future.

Sometimes we do this out of pain, shame, or guilt. How many times have you missed out on a good relationship because you were burdened with mistrust from a past one? Craig Groeschel talks about this in his book The Christian Atheist. In the chapter When You Believe in God but are Ashamed of Your Past, he says, “Once we accept the unchangeable past, we must embrace that God can change our future.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We can’t be made new if we cling to our old sin and hurt.

Sometimes it isn’t pain or shame that makes us miss out on God’s future, its glory. Like the men of Galilee above, we hold onto the good things in our past. Those men looked into the sky remembering they had walked with Christ, seen miracles. Perhaps they wondered “How could it possibly get any better?” Even though Christ had told them it would be better, they were rooted in the past until those two mysterious men booted them into the future. I think this attitude of operating in past glory is a problem in the church. Congregations are dwindling because they insist on doing things as they always have. Conferences and seminars don’t have the same impact because they’ve been utilizing the same format over and over. To modify Groeschel’s quote, “Once we let go of our glorious pasts, we can embrace God’s future for us.”

Of course, God’s future is going to be different. I still haven’t found a group like my old one. I have to work harder to make sure Sam has time with his friends. However, I have found a homeschool athletic association. My son has trained and competed with homeschoolers from all over our area in cross country and track. He wouldn’t have had that opportunity in our old group. Once I let go of the past, I was able to find a future for my son I hadn’t imagined.

Fruit of the Spirit: Fruit Basket (Lesson Plan grades 5-12)

Materials:


Bible
Copy of Prayer “Fruit Basket”

Prep:

(optional) Make a worksheet using the prayer “Fruit Basket” as a model. Type out the opening phrases and leave the second half blank for your child to fill in. For example:

Lord, please give me Love when ________________________________. Continue for each fruit of the Spirit and include the closing line.



Lesson:

1) Have your student read Galatians 5:22-23.

2) Discuss the areas in his life where he struggles with each fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, tenderness, and self-control.

3) Ask, “What does Fruit of the Spirit mean?” Answer: They are gifts given by the Holy Spirit.

4) Ask, “Why do we need these gifts?” Answer: Apart from God these things are difficult to accomplish in our lives.

5) Show him the prayer “Fruit Basket.”

6) Tell him to use it as a model to write his own prayer. Refer back to his answers in #2 and have him complete the prayer using those areas where he struggles. (If you made a worksheet, give to him to fill out.)


Fruit Basket


Lord, please give me Love when my brother breaks my CD.

Lord, please give me Joy when I’m picked on at school.

Lord, please give me Peace when my parents are fighting.

Lord, please give me Patience when my best friend forgets to call . . . again.

Lord, please give me Kindness when a new kid comes to class.

Lord, please give me Goodness when I’m in a bad mood.

Lord, please give me Faithfulness when others reject You.

Lord, please give me Tenderness when my Grandma is sick.

Lord, please give me Self-Control when my friends have none.

Lord, please give me these things because I don’t have them on my own.

I'm so Tired (Gen 2:2)

Last year I noticed a trend among the homeschooling parents that I knew- Everyone was tired. Once I became aware of it, it seemed like our every conversation was based on how exhausted we all were. As I meditated on this, God in His efficiency had my pastor preach on this verse: Gen 2:2 “On the seventh day, having finished his task, God rested from all his work.” NLT

As he taught it was clear to me, we were tired because we had no rest. I spend my Saturdays catching up on the cleaning that didn’t happen during the week and my Sundays lesson planning and grading papers. There are days during the week when I’m moving from the moment I wake up until I go to bed. Other moms I know spend Saturdays shuttling children to little league and Sundays in the nursery. I suppose we homeschoolers don’t have the market on being busy, but I know that it causes problems.

This school year I encourage you to take time to rest. Be selfish, curl up on the couch with that book you’ve been meaning to read or watch your favorite show. Make time with friends. I’ve found that the world won’t end if the bed doesn’t get made and it’s not bad to tell my son to play by himself for awhile.

This verse doesn’t say that God was tired and needed to rest. He is God after all. He rested as an example for us. He created all things to need rest. Remember to pencil yours in this year.

MommySon Day

My son and I played hooky Monday, a random event known as “Mommy/Son Day.” We went to lunch at Firehouse Subs, my favorite. We looked around a hobby store; playing with remote controlled cars, airplane simulators and sizing up robot kits. Then we went to a gift shop where I bought myself a bracelet and my son a giant green pen. What ten-year-old boy doesn’t want a giant green pen? All of this followed by a movie and a game of Risk at home.

It was an awesome day. We had a blast together. We talked about frivolous topics like Legos and online games. We laughed a lot and didn’t have a single fight. This is an accomplishment considering that an average homeschool day for us is billed as “Hard Headed Mom v. Hard Headed Son – the Death Match.”

Which is why I have Mommy/Son day. Our normal days begin with school around 8 or 8:30 and expand to a myriad of lessons, some he loves and more he hates. This is interspersed with chores, both his and mine. Any break from school is an opportunity to do the laundry or make that call. We don’t have much time to just hang out on the average day.

I think that one of the challenges in homeschooling is to protect that parent-child relationship. It is easy for the loving bond to be lost amid the teacher-student dynamic. We are much more present in our children’s lives than the average parent; our kids begin to see us as correcting machines. We’re the main ones correcting school work, behavior and even posture (sit with your back straight when writing in cursive!).

A parent whose child is in school has one or more teachers to split that burden with. It’s the teacher who makes them do math or who marks the “F” on a test paper. A homeschool parent has to shoulder all of the negative aspects of education. I started Mommy/Son day to battle the image I was developing in my son’s eyes.

Of course, my son and I could do this on the week-end and not interrupt the school week. But for us, doing it on a day we should be schooling drives the point home. I’m telling my kid “You’re more important to me than Saxon mixed practice or Daily Grams.”

Throughout our time on Monday, I was also thinking about how this relates to my life in Christ. It is so easy to get trapped in the routine of faith that we forget our faith life is about a relationship with our Savior. Our walk becomes 11:00am Sunday, 6:00pm Wednesday, 6:30pm every other Thursday. Our quiet time becomes “get that passage read before bible study,” and “I’ve memorized the entire book of Acts.”

When is the last time you opened the Word or prayed without an agenda? When is the last time you sought God, whether in Word, song or prayer, out of a simple desire to spend time with your Maker? I asked myself those questions and was startled to find I wasn’t sure when I had last worshipped just to worship.

Convicted I got up early Tuesday morning and read some Psalms. I put away the concordance and commentaries and just read. I was reminded that God is our Protector, our Strength, our Hope. I entered the day renewed, refreshed and ready for “Hard Headed Mom v. Hard Headed Son round 2.”