The Beauty of Order – Part II

Earlier this year when I wrote my first blog post on the beauty of order, it was the end of summer, my kids were restless and I was just getting ready to start school.

http://thesahlbergs.blogspot.com/2010/08/beauty-of-order.html

At the end of that post I said something to the effect of, “I’ll check back in with you to see how it’s all going when we’re stuck in the house and the snow flies.”

Well, here we are. My how time, and the snow, flies. In two days our Christmas break will be over and we will start the second half of our school year. Only this time I’m not quite as anxious to get going.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I still believe in order and the necessity of it in our lives, it’s just that I’m enjoying this break thoroughly! However, I’ve seen the beauty of order and the need for it in our lives displayed in some different ways this fall.

Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that you are reading this blog? You can read. In our world today 1 billion adults can not read. That’s 26% of the world’s population, and 2/3’s of those 1 billion people are women. Our languages are orderly. They may not always seem like it when we are learning them, but they have to be in order for us to set words down in sentences and then to read them coherently.

This has been brought to the forefront of my mind this fall as Daniel, my sweet baby, is struggling to read. For those of you who have spent time with Daniel, you know that he has always gotten easily overwhelmed. Bright lights, loud music, scratchy clothes. And for some reason, too many words on a page are just making, in his words, “my head stuffed up.” It’s very hard for me to see him read individual words just fine, but as they are put together in sentences and then grouped together on a page, he just freezes and can’t do it.

A good parent puts pride aside and is willing to admit when something is beyond their ability. I’ve talked to a lot of people who have given me some great ideas and I’ve tried everything I know to do, but in the end, it’s just not working for us. So, we’re looking for help from some experts in the schools. My prayer is that this teacher will be able to “unstuff” Daniel’s head and help figure out the riddle that will open a whole, new, wonderful world of language and books for him.

Did you know that God also created order in our homes? Our world doesn’t like this one. “Everyone’s equal!” they scream. Yes, it’s true, we’re all created equal in His image, but we’ve been given unique roles and when everyone plays those roles to the best of their abilities, the home functions in a beautiful manner. When those roles get flipped around, it’s chaotic.

Lately we’ve been talking to our children about this. Mom and Dad are here to bring order and discipline and teaching to the home, not because we have earned the right by being so amazing and great, but because God gave us this right as their parents. When our children choose to place themselves under our authority and not usurp our authority the home runs in a peaceful manner. We have open conversations, love, joy and peace. There is a place to run in conflict, joys and sorrows.

The same is true in our marriage. I have a wonderful husband who does an amazing job leading  our home. When I place myself under Nathan’s care and leadership and come alongside him to help him in this role the home runs beautifully. If I pridefully and disrespectfully take over his authority, it undermines everything we are trying to teach our children and the very foundation of our home.

Over all of this, we all place ourselves under God’s authority. The final word on everything is what He has asked us to do in His Word, the Bible. We obey Him, not because we are frightened, but because we love Him. As a loving Father, he has made beauty and order in this world for our protection and joy. I’m astounded over and over again, although I don’t know why I am, when we function according to the patterns He established, how much peace and joy there is in our spirits.  Conversely, stepping away from this pattern, brings chaos and discord almost instantly.

So, although a break is fun, a break is just temporary. It’s time to get back to business around here. Order is going to be very important this week as I’m going to have my 2 and 4 year-old niece and nephew with us this week. Laura’s going to start Geometry shortly and although I’ve been told there’s order in that I have yet to see it, so I’m hoping to discover it! Daniel is going to learn the order and beauty of the multiplication tables. Nate is GOING to learn the order that letters are arranged in in a word if it kills him; yes spelling is his Waterloo. And Laura is also going to get to see the beauty and order in God’s creation as she dissects some animals in Biology. There might be a few blogs about that one! And we’ll have a few field trips that break us out of our routine, because too much of a good thing is, well, too much!