Clinging to Hope

The irony in being prepared for life when you are young is most of the time you are clueless about what you are preparing for. When you ask, like every other child on earth, "but why do I need to know this, I will never use it...", the Older and Wiser Ones smile like Mona Lisa. It is as futile as telling a kitten it climbs and shreds the draperies for the day when it is being chased by a fox as it is to tell a child that Algebra may reenter his life in ways he never thought to consider. Since we don't know the future, we are forced to prepare for all eventualities. This is a daunting task, and more so if you are a home school parent as the whole chinchilla rests on your shoulders. (For those of you who excel in catching malapropisms, I know that most people think the proper phrase is "the whole enchilada". But I ask you, which would you rather have resting on your shoulder- a messy dripping oily enchilada or a furry soft chinchilla?)

So every morning, while petting the Chinchilla, I do a Bible study with Asherel, forging through the blank stares when I talk about trials, and suffering and struggles in life. For a kid whose been blessed so mightily that her most heart wrenching problem for the day is how to talk me into letting her have icecream for dessert 3 nights in a row, these biblical issues of struggle and temptations that lead to death have as much relevance to her life as the Middle Ages, which coincidentally, we are also studying with similar attenuating interest.

So like I find myself doing with other subjects that don't seem to have any significance to her now, I try to emphasise that we never know when something we thought we would never need suddenly is all we need.

For example, despite the fact that I never knew why my words were underlined like they are now, I did not research it, or ask for help from someone who might know. And now, for no reason at all, my words are underlined yet again, and I am unable to correct it. This gives me an aura of "lack of credibility" which detracts from the truth of my message.

So I continue to help Asherel find and even memorize those verses that give hope and strength for a day that she cannot yet envision. You just never know when you may need to find comfort from God- affirming words like a curtain to cling to covering a window of despair.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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