Authentic

God has been using homeschooling to teach me about life :) Our church is currently doing a sermon series on being an authentic Christian. Many times we do "religious" things rote without an authenticity, more of a check box mentality and miss what a relationship with Christ really entails.  We are meant to live out our Christianity.  Anyway getting to what this has to do with homeschooling.  Zeke is my free spirit child, he isn't one to sit down and focus on much unless it involves, dirt, bugs or monster trucks.  So attempting to have him sit and learn something in Kindergarten this year was a challenging thought.  He is a wiggly boy, he would much rather hop to his destination then walk or better yet run at full speed.  I love every bit of that, he is everything every little boy has inside.  However learning to write letters takes time, stillness and concentration when you are 6 years old.....are you seeing where this is going..... He has never had any school outside homeschool, he will be the only one.  So "school" to him is just part of life.  Speeding up now to the other day, I walk into the kitchen and there is little boy standing at the counter with a book sitting in front of him and he is copying all the words onto a piece of paper with a pen I had left sitting there.  He is carefully copying each letter neatly.  He showed me so proud what he was doing and I got all excited.  It seems silly, but I was so excited because he was authentically on his own practicing what he had learned, he could have chosen a million other things to do but he was so excited at what he was able to do he chose to do that on his own.  See many school things my kids do are because they have to, or they are expected too.  But nothing makes my teacher heart more excited then when the authentic stuff happens, the classic book they choose to read because it looks good, the excitement when they learn to read better and can move to the new section of the library with the bigger books, the educational video game that they rush to play, the letters they copy from a book proudly.  The teacher in me beams because 1 they are really learning and growing and 2 they still find it fun and exciting.  That's the good part, the bad part is the school day where the book is being read with a pout because they "have" to read for schoolwork, the sigh when they realize that its 25 math problems, the sloppy handwriting because it was done in a rush to just get it done.  Its draining to the one trying to teach, you realize its not all going to be fun, but it makes for a long day even when it all gets done.  So what this has to do with God....how many times am I guilty of "doing" the prayer time, bible study, church service with the "have" to attitude and not the authentic joy in the fact that I am learning, growing and changing.  How often do I lose the perspective on how far God's teaching has brought me from where I once was, that every lesson and experience from God brings me to a better understanding of life and who God is.  No wonder God tells us come to him as children, that excitement a child has when they can do something they couldn't do before is contagious, we all jump around and act silly for that child.  I need to wake up as a Christian, I have to get people jumping around me when they see the excitement I have from God revealing himself.  I want God to catch me practicing what he taught authentically in my life.