Why Home?

If some­one asked me what I want­ed to do when I was a young adult I’d respond, “I want to change the world.” Not in a large way, and not like the pageant con­tes­tants want world peace. Rather, I want to do some­thing for the king­dom of God. For the past 16 years I’ve strug­gled to stay focused on this call­ing on my life to impact the world with the knowl­edge of the king­dom. For one, I’m main­ly a home­school mom, which by most mod­ern opin­ions, isn’t impact­ful. How­ev­er, I am here to tell you that the most impor­tant thing that we as par­ents can do to impact the world with the king­dom of God is to raise God fear­ing and hon­or­ing peo­ple to seek out the kingdom. 

Every­one knows the age-old say­ing “The hand that rocks the cra­dle rules the world”. We also know that we are run­ning a marathon not a sprint. Our God calls us to raise our chil­dren for His king­dom and His glo­ry. His king­dom is ever­last­ing. If you’re won­der­ing how long it’ll take home edu­ca­tors to change and impact the cul­ture with their fam­i­lies, think on this: It took pub­lic edu­ca­tion about 100 years to reap the fruits of seg­re­gat­ed fam­i­lies with­out the help of God. It may take us 100 years to get our fam­i­lies back, but God is on our side! 

So when some­one asks me what my mid-life goals are, I’ll respond more strong­ly and deter­mined than ever, “I want to change the world”. Because I stay home to build the king­dom of God in my fam­i­ly, and I teach to build the king­dom of God in my com­mu­ni­ty, and I pray to build the king­dom of God in the world. 

In case you’re curi­ous, check out the poem “The Hand that Rocks the Cra­dle Rules the World” by William Ross Wal­lace below: 

Bless­ings on the hand of women!
    Angels guard its strength and grace.
In the palace, cot­tage, hovel,
    Oh, no mat­ter where the place;
Would that nev­er storms assailed it,
    Rain­bows ever gen­tly curled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.

Infan­cy’s the ten­der fountain,
    Pow­er may with beau­ty flow,
Moth­ers first to guide the streamlets,
    From them souls unrest­ing grow —
Grow on for the good or evil,
    Sun­shine streamed or evil hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission,
    Here upon our natal sod;
Keep – oh, keep the young heart open
    Always to the breath of God!
All true tro­phies of the ages
    Are from moth­er-love impearled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.

Bless­ings on the hand of women!
    Fathers, sons, and daugh­ters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
    With the wor­ship in the sky —
Min­gles where no tem­pest darkens,
    Rain­bows ever­more are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.