Showing posts with label Vocation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vocation. Show all posts

Friday, April 20, 2012

Of vocations and passions ...

I purchased a lot of fabric while in Arizona.  And the whole drive home I was so excited to get to work and make stuff.  I was pondering how the idea of getting home to sew was exciting to me and made my heart pitter patter.  Does anyone relate to this?  Got me thinking about my passion for it, and of course its no wonder.  God is a Creator, and we are made in His image and likeness!  Then I wondered if my passions were in the right order. Observe with tongue in cheek.

My main vocations in order of importance (following our prime reason for being; to know, love and serve our God):

marriage
motherhood
homeschooling
creative expression (eg sewing, knitting, crafting, home dec, etc)  And yes, though not a vocation in the traditional sense, I do feel a strong calling here 'to create'. Vocation - voco - latin for 'I call.'


And here are my passions, from what I am most passionate about to least.  But remember, they are all passions, so even the bottom of the list is good:

creative expression (eg sewing, knitting, crafting, home dec, etc)
homeschooling
motherhood
marriage

Notice the inverse relationship?

Its not that I do not take my marriage seriously.  I most certainly do, and its at the top of the vocation list for a reason.  How blessed I am to have a partner in life while many others sit lonely.   But I can't say I  surf the net for new and inspiring ways to bless my marriage.  Should I be?  I can't say that I see a million blogs written by married women all solely about ... marriage.  Are there any?  What would that kind of blog look like?  I should check ...

And its not that I do not enjoy motherhood.  I love it immensely and passionately!!  I do feel my creative abilities are put more to the test in this area for sure.

But .... I can pour hours and hours over homeschooling books. I can sit and make plans and come up with ideas to meet the learning needs of the kids.  I can get together with my homeschooling friends and we have endless conversations about things as miniscule as spelling programs.  I absolutely love homeschooling and maybe its because it involves, no, demands creativity and relies on inspiration.

And then ... my interest in and passion for creativity with textiles tops the chart and I know many women feel the same way ... I can spend forever in a fabric store, perusing patterns and cloth, dreaming and imagining what I could craft.  Or a yarn shop. Or I could spend an evening cutting and glueing and adorning a single scrapbook page till I get it just right.  Long into the night could I stay up sewing, all the while *thinking* how lovely its going to be when its done.  Design. Create.

I can get so inspired, and inspiration fulfilled is so deeply satisfying.  (Which reminds me how important it is to work hard to inspire your children.  See how that passion for homeschooling just took over?)

But. If I had to choose, creative expression would go.  If I had to choose again, cut the homeschooling.  Choose again?  Motherhood, because motherhood without marriage would not be a path I would willingly undertake.  Marriage remains!

This is what I have been pondering tonight, as I prewash many meters of girly fabric and cut and sew a dress for Kate.  As I prepare for my homeschooling facilitator visit in the morning. As I tuck my littles in with their stuffies and blankets and magic bags. As I listen to my husband's goings-on in the job front, glass of Baileys-on-ice in hand.

What are your primary vocations? Your passions?  Is there a relationship?

Hey!!!!
I just googled marriage blogs!  And there are A KAZILLION!  Who knew??? Who. Knew.  

Have a lovely weekend.











Monday, October 31, 2011

My Call to Homeschool

sometime post-Easter, 2005

It's the middle of the day, I'm home alone in the living room, and I'm praying the Rosary. A beautiful meditation on the life of Christ through the heart of His mother.

I'm discerning whether God is calling me to homeschool the kids.  The whole idea of homeschooling has been put in my path over the last two weeks and I'm intrigued.  Can't get it off my mind. So I pray. Lord, is this what you want me to do?

And then, He whispers.  It's a part of a verse from Scripture, Luke 12:48.  I think He uses this one alot because I've heard and read of lots of people who were inspired by it.

"... And to whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required." 

I looked around at my big beautiful house and thought about how much I have been given. How much I have been blessed with.  Like, in excess. And not just the material things, but the immaterial as well.  Health. Literacy. Safety. Freedoms. Fairly sane extended family :).

OK then, that's an affirmative from the Lord. Homeschooling, here we come. Really?

ok i'm in i'm in i'm ALL in!!!  but Lord, me, are you sure, part of me is sooo excited but i'm also realllllly worried seriously how can you entrust me with this awesome responsibility i have zero patience at the best of times ok i can do the academic stuff but what will my family think they'll think i'm a lunatic a crazy catholic lunatic also D will be starting school full-time come the fall and  i was planning on really getting some me-time with both the kids in school, you know, to do stuff, so really Lord, me, are you sure? on the other hand I feel like running out into the street and shouting about it its so amazing and i think i might be good at it so, Lord, are you sure? and oh the thrill, the thrill of knowing that God has something awesome in mind for my kids and for me, He's got a plan and i wonder what it is whatever it is He wants the majority of their formation to occur at home ... at home???

I went out and bought a Math program. There is no sense in resisting the will of God.

Oh, and I also told God respectfully requested that He please work on my husband's heart to help him support me in this venture cause it wasn't going to be an easy sell. Who chooses to be in a minority group?

Then I researched what spelling program to use.

And I couldn't wait to get my daughter out of the school system.  Couldn't wait couldn't wait couldn't wait!!!!   By the time you decide to homeschool, you see everything through different eyes.  I had to attend her school's "talent show" and was completely appalled.  The "talent" included grade 5 girls "dancing" to a Hilary Duff song with lyrics that repulsed me, made me want to puke, something consisting of  "you ask me why I gotta play so hard to get, you ask me to play it cool not to make you sweat ... that's what girls do"  It made me ill as I watched teachers and parents alike bobbing their heads to the beat in approval.  You guys approve of your 10-yr-olds dancing to this crap on a stage and then you are calling it talent? This is socialization????  My 7-yr-old is supposed to look up to these girls?  And I would have said something to the principal, too, had I not won the doorprize.

Instead, I waited out the last month and a half of school and was never so happy than the day I told the principal we were outa there.

"... And to whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required." 

What is God asking of you these days?