Last week, I shared that wisdom from Father Jacques Philippe, author of Searching for and Maintaining Peace–an excellent book, by the way, an excellent tiny book, which is even better. It's the best kind of book. In that book, Father says that a spiritually mature person, when encountering difficulty, doesn't ask, why did this happen?, but rather asks, how will I respond now?I love this so much because when we change the question from why did this happen? to how will I r...
Last week, I shared that wisdom from Father Jacques Philippe, author of Searching for and Maintaining Peace–an excellent book, by the way, an excellent tiny book, which is even better. It's the best kind of book. In that book, Father says that a spiritually mature person, when encountering difficulty, doesn't ask, why did this happen?, but rather asks, how will I respond now?
I love this so much because when we change the question from why did this happen? to how will I respond now?, we assume this posture of humility. Because why did this happen? assumes that I had a plan, things did not go according to my plan, and I'd better figure out why so I can make sure that next time I have everything under control, so that next time everything goes according to my plan.
You can hear it in the question, right? Why did this happen?
And believe me, this is a question my brain asks all the time. And one of the things I'm doing right now is gently nudging my brain to ask a better question, a more spiritually mature question, a question that assumes more humility and lets the Holy Spirit move in my life more completely. And that question is, how will I respond now?
So much in our lives happens outside of our control and we would love the people around us so much better if we focused on a holy response in accordance with whatever God is calling us to, rather than demanding to know why things are the way they are and why they're not going according to our plan.
How will I respond now? is a question that leaves room for God to move in our lives, to teach us something, to be close to us. It causes us to get close to Jesus in prayer and scripture and to find out how he wants us to respond. And in that way, when difficult things happen in our lives–tiny things that are irritations in our homeschool or big things that feel heavier than we can carry–we can see all of them as invitations to get close to Jesus and find out how we will respond now.
Grab your journal or your notes app on your phone. For the next two minutes, jot down anything right now in your life that isn't going according to your plan. What isn't working the way you'd hoped it would? It can be a little tiny thing, minor inconveniences. It can be small grievances. It can be a giant thing.
I'm going to do the same thing. My list is kind of long at the moment, so you're in good company. Big things, small things, whether or not you even think you should be frustrated by these things does not matter. Anything that you think isn't going quote unquote right, jot it down. Are you ready? Two minutes.
Here's the music.
Now look over your list. I bet there's probably something that jumps out at you as the most pressing, the most urgent, the thing that is bugging you the most, maybe keeping you up at night.
I'm going to play two more minutes of music. First of all, circle that thing that jumps out at you, the one that seems like the most pressing. And for the next two minutes, just jot down what comes to mind with this prompt:
I wonder how God wants me to respond to... And then fill in the blank with whatever it is, whatever the thing is for you.
I wonder how God wants me to respond to...
Fill in the blank with whatever's not going right and then journal what comes to mind. You might not find your answer to how you're going to respond, but if you just keep in mind as you're journaling for two minutes that, I wonder how God wants me to respond to this problem, knowing that I am called to be a peace-filled, joyful mother, you're going to get somewhere. You're inviting the Lord in to speak to you in this way.
So two minutes, I wonder how God wants me to respond to... Fill in the problem.
Here you go.
We've said it before around here, and we're going to keep saying it. Having problems in your homeschool, in your family life, in your homemaking, in your marriage, in your friendships: None of these problems are a problem. Having problems is not the problem. They're just the work. They're just the invitation.
And we would do really well to get curious about how we might respond now rather than why something happened in the first place or why we have this problem in the first place. Anytime you feel very overwhelmed with that question of why is this happening?, I invite you to sit down and take two minutes to go, I wonder how God wants me to respond here? How will I respond now?, keeping in mind that I know I'm called to being a peace-filled, joyful mom who honors the Lord. So, how will I respond to this thing now?
I will be back here next week. For now, remember, you've got everything you need to teach with peace that transcends all understanding. You were made for such a time and such a homeschool as this. I'm praying for you.
Books Mentioned in This Episode:
Searching for and Maintaining Peace
