“Freedom” – Sursum Corda News February 2023
Dear Sursum Corda Mamas–
“I have to.” How many times a day do you tell yourself, “I have to”? It is so easy to fall into a mindset where we see ourselves as slaves to our tasks, compelled into all our actions.
Sometimes we neglect our own (or our family’s) real needs because of what we see as obligations. The serious, philosophical root of the current trend of “self-care” is a warning not to let external obligations take such priority that we neglect our own needs. In a sense, this is akin to the discipline of Sabbath, which declares that work must not take over our human need for worship and rest. When we take a Sabbath, we proclaim to ourselves that we are not slaves to our work, that we are free.
Other biblical disciplines–fasting, abstinence, solitude–declare that we are not slaves to our own needs and desires, either. Because we can trust God to take care of us, we are not controlled by our need to take care of ourselves. In Christ, we are free to choose what is good, not compelled into our actions by social obligations, animal instinct, habits, temptations, or neediness.
But what does this freedom look like in the everyday world of homeschooling and family? We certainly can’t just ignore our many duties or brush off the tasks we have agreed to do! Perhaps sometimes it looks like declaring aloud, “I choose to read Dostoevsky (or Parables from Nature or Robinson Crusoe) right now, because I love this child so much.” Perhaps sometimes it looks like deliberately making a choice between the schoolwork on the schedule and the other things that come up — asking “what is truly best right now?” Perhaps sometimes it looks like silencing the internal voice that constantly finds fault because you were not magically able to do all the options at the same time!
We have chosen this path, sisters, and it is good. In His service is perfect freedom.
With love,
Heather (for the Board)