In the first week of the stay-at-home order, I took my trash out at 7:45pm and it was completely silent.
I’m talking no cars driving by, no one talking, no one walking by my house. I wasn’t horror movie afraid,
I was still. I just stood on my driveway and listened to the breeze and looked at the stars. It was serene.

I believe God has called our family to send our children into the public-school system as missionaries,
but I have a homeschool mama’s heart! I want my kids trained in the Word and ready to go into the
world prepared as they can be. Second to that I just LOVE getting to be with each of them and being
their mama. I love to teach and disciple, so having them with me for the stay-at-home order met a
longing in my mama heart. I think of sitting with my first grader and talking through writing webs,
working on science projects with my pre-teen and hearing about online scholastic interactions with my
eldest’s teachers and classmates.

This reminds me of a different season of our children’s education when our youngest started
kindergarten I had a small identity crisis. I was preparing for half-day kindergarten and we realized that
our child was ready for full-day education. To say the silence in our home that first week of school was
deafening is an understatement. I played super loud Jesus music and cleaned like crazy. Then I got into
the rhythm of the new normal. I was delighted that our child adored kindergarten and had the most
amazing kindergarten teacher ever called to teach.

The quiet and unsettled feeling I felt alone in my house was nothing like the serene stillness I felt in my
driveway. Both times were uncertain for me, but in one season I was mourning unmet expectations and
in another I was stopping to breathe in God’s presence and reminder that He is in control no matter
what is happening around me.

Whatever you are facing at the end of this school year, find a place of stillness with Jesus and thank Him
for His presence. Remember, quietness is not necessarily stillness. But wherever He is, there is peace.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the
earth.” Psalm 26:10

Take some time to pray for an opportunity for a moment of stillness with Jesus.