What Do You Have in Your Hand?

Posted by Lisa N. | 0 comments

I want to share with you a question that was paradigm changing for me. It is this:  “What do you have in your hand?” What do you have, right now, that you can give, use, steward. This is the question God posed to scruffy sheep herder Moses after forty years of herding nature’s “animal most likely to accidentally kill itself.” Great training for what was to come, perhaps. Exodus 4 recounts Moses’ belly aching to the Lord about going up to Egypt to confront the world’s greatest super power.

So the Lord said to Moses, “What is that in your hand?” (As if God didn’t already know).

Moses answers astutely, “A rod.”

God proceeds to have Moses throw down the rod, utilizing it in a way that is completely unexpected. Lo and behold what Moses had in his hand is transformed, holds the power of God and has the capacity to change hardened hearts.

I think it could be the same for us. God takes what we have in our hands, the common, every day things, like our gifts, abilities, drive, motivation, know how, and uses them mightily and in unexpected ways.

Sadly, I’ve wasted time on comparing what I’ve had in my hand with what others have had or thinking that what I’ve had in my hand couldn’t amount to anything or wasn’t enough. I wasted time in thinking that what I had in my hand was just ordinary. I lost focus of the fact that the God I serve is extraordinary and can use the most mundane people or things to serve His vision. The reality is that if God has called us to homeschool, He will equip us to do so, giving us rods to hold and asking us to trust that they will do more than we can ask or imagine.

What have we had in our hand as we’ve homeschooled?  Our family has traveled and lived around the U.S. We read voraciously. We know how to study. We have unique and varied interests which include gardening, travel, languages, archeology, astronomy, writing, music, and more. What I have in my hand in unique to me. What you have in your hand will be unique to you. The cool thing is that God will use whatever He’s gifted our families with as we live out the call to homeschool.

We see it already. Our oldest daughter has a passion for people, communication, travel, and reaching the lost. Our second daughter has a passion for beauty, creating and women’s ministry. Our oldest son has a passion for writing and Biblical truth. Our youngest two love to perform, tell jokes, and recite poetry. All of us love to crowd around the computer as my scientist husband shows us the latest astronomy of the day picture. We often discuss literature, science or politics as we garden, cook and clean together.

Our kids will never be Rhodes scholars, are not destined for an Ivy League, will definitely not win any spelling bees, don’t enjoy quiz bowls, and so far show no signs of following conventional paths.  I’ve had to give up my expectations and dreams about how my kids will “turn out.” I’ve had to let go of my fears and doubts. I’ve had to trust and depend that God has a unique call for each child, that He has more of an investment in them than I do and that He has a good plan for each and every one of them. I’ve had to quit wasting time on comparing and coveting what others have had in their hands. I’ve had to focus on what God has given me.

Homeschooling has caused me to grow. Not only have I learned how to memorize, diagram a sentence, and learned about whole chunks of history I didn’t realize existed, but I’ve had to grow past the fine art of  comparing myself and my family with others. I’ve been forced to grow in contentment. Life has not followed my idealistic plan. In fact, it seems at times that my plan has been deliberately thwarted. And like Moses, once I get comfortable with one thing, like the palace, or even the back side of a wilderness schlocking sheep, it seems like God has asked us to move, to release, to trust even more than before.  He’s asked me to throw down whatever rod we’ve held and watch as He performs incredible feats before our very eyes.

So I ask you to consider, what do you have in your hand? Do you trust that God has put it there? Do you trust that He will use it in ways that you could never even ask or imagine?

Lisa Nehring has been homeschooling her 5 kids (2 of whom have graduated) for the past 20 years. She holds Master’s degrees in Human Development and in Marriage and Family Therapy. Lisa has been involved in creating co-ops, class days, and camp experiences for homeschoolers, and was instrumental in bringing TeenPact to South Dakota. She writes regularly for the Homeschool Village as well as other magazines, websites and newsletters. Lisa and her husband of 25 years, David, a Christian Psychologist and Biblical Counselor, speak on marriage and parenting, education and homeschooling. Lisa blogs regularly about “crafting the extraordinary from the ordinary” at Golden Grasses.