Prayer for the Home (Homeschool 2015-2016)

I know I've shared this song before, but God continues to use it to remind me of the homeschooling journey he has set before my family. As I scramble to perfect our year, I am reminded that my prayer should not be for a great academic year or a wonderfully executed plan, but rather for our home to be a refuge for love, harbor for prayer, and a place for my children to grow nearer to their Jesus. In just a few weeks we will start our next year. We will sit down and do math, we will study Egypt, and we will learn all about planets and stars. But I hope that the real schooling happens when there are boo boos that need kissing, and conflict that needs resolution, and apologies that need spoken. I pray that the real schooling happens when our plans get thrown off, and our projects don't turn out right, and our milk spills. I want the real schooling to happen when we stop math to nurse a toddler, or close science because we're overwhelmed, or scribble all over geography because we don't understand. The moments when we realize no plans but His plans prevail will be the best moments we experience this year, and I can't WAIT to be there as their "teacher" when the GREATEST teacher tells me to step aside and let Him teach us all a thing or two. 

A Prayer for the Home

Fernando Ortega

Grant them peace, most precious gift of all

Keep the worried world far away and small

When they return, may quiet fill their souls,

Dearest Lord, keep them safe within it's walls.

May the stone be cool beneath their feet.

The canyon breezes circle soft and sweet

When darkness falls, the stars and opal moon

Find them wrapped in each other, ever warm.

May it be a refuge for their love,

A harbor for their deepest prayer.

May they come to flourish in the grove,

Grow ever nearer to You there.

Many a burdened friend in their company rises,

A heavy heart is soon released to fly.

May their table be blessed with laughter and with grace

And by the comfort of kinship be surprised.

May it be a refuge for their love,

A harbor for their deepest prayer.

May they come to flourish in the grove,

Grow ever nearer to You there.

May the cold wind blow far from their front door

May the winter rains never bring them harm

May their hearthfires burn throughout the night

Grant them sleep until morning's perfect light.

May it be a refuge for their love,

A harbor for their deepest prayer.

May they come to flourish in the grove,

Grow ever nearer to You there.