Sheltering

We have a garden greenhouse. Last year Steve ordered seeds and began the little seedlings inside in their little pods. He waited for the day to be able to put them outside into the big garden. But it was a process.

He would have me check the temperature of the greenhouse and make sure the conditions were not too harsh. He cared for those seedlings carefully and intentionally. They certainly weren’t ready for the ground as seeds, and as seedlings, they needed to be strong enough to be transplanted. And even within the greenhouse, they needed to be kept at the perfect conditions to strengthen them.

They were taken outside into the sunshine during the day but were taken back into the protection of the greenhouse at night. They were given doses of the outside with just the right amount of protection until they were ready.

If we had tried to transplant those seedlings into the big garden right away, they would have shriveled and died. They wouldn’t have been prepared and their roots were not strong enough. They would not have survived extremes in weather or unexpected conditions.

But then the day came. Once they were ready…they were taken from the protective greenhouse and planted into the garden and we watched them thrive.

They grew. They produced. They did what God created them to do.

And just like my children…they are seedlings in the greenhouse that will one day be transplanted when they are ready.

For the age-old argument that homeschool is sheltering- yes, in a sense it is. Who wouldn’t protect their kids from what they were not prepared for? In a way, our homeschool and our home have been that greenhouse. We’ve exposed them bits at a time without putting them into that garden permanently until they weren’t ready.

But here we are, getting ready to transplant the first seedling this year. She will be graduating homeschool and I am more than confident that she is prepared for life.

I patiently wait for the day when we will transplant that seedling into the big garden. Ready to plant those roots down firmly in the soil and grow. And grow tall. Reaping a harvest. And thriving as God intended.