This week instead of Spring Break, we are focusing on “Spring Cleaning-Inside and Out.” The inside refers to our hearts. The outside is a new chore system we have in place.
Today we focused on the inside. It was by far, one of our best homeschooling days. So much was learned {not in a textbook} that was truly the important stuff.
What we did:
We began our morning sitting in our dead and lifeless garden. We read a devotion from Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions For Kids
Another beautiful image is that a colt would be very volatile and wild since it was not tame. Yet, he rode it into Jerusalem. Jesus-gives us calm. He calms the storm (Matthew 4:35-40), calms demons (Mark 5:1-9) , and here calms the colt, merely by His presence. He does that for us too.
{An aside that I find fascinating-did you know all donkeys have a cross down their backs? God is always pointing to Himself if we just open our eyes!}
He further illustrates this the next morning when he passes by a fig tree, and see it bears no fruit. He commands the tree to wither. This is a parable acted out. Just like the temple was beautiful on the outside, inside it was full of sin. A fig tree on the outside looked beautiful to a hungry Jesus, but it bore no fruit, and it withered.
The children and I discussed how this can happen to us. We may try to look good on the outside, and pleasing the Lord outwardly, but if our hearts are not beautiful, no fruit will be made and we will wither.
Tying it back to the devotion from earlier, we talked about getting rid of the sins of heart, so that our gardens may flourish. We want to be the biggest fruit-bearing plant in that garden, not because we want to look good, but because we want to grow to our full potential, and the higher we get, the closer we are to God.
Then the children made pictures to depict the weeds in their hearts that need to be taken out. We hung them in the window, and it was beautiful how our real garden was in the background outside the window.
Then below we hung pictures they made of their gardens that will flourish, if we let Jesus weed out those sins. We hung them up as a beautiful reminder this week that we are preparing our hearts for the Risen Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ!
Oh what a beautiful morning. We really needed this lesson today as a family.
Tomorrow, I will be posting more about our lessons learned today. So be sure to check back!
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