1 Corinthians 13 for Homeschool Moms

{Published in the Fall 2010 GHEA Magazine}

1 Corinthians 13 for Homeschool Moms

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and teach my children Latin conjugations,
Chinese, and Portuguese, but do not have love, I
have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,
and no matter what I say, they will not hear me.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know my
children's bents and God's plan for their lives,
and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and
am the keeper of the teacher's editions and
solutions manuals, and if I have all faith, so as to
move mountains, and even keep up with my
giant piles of laundry and dishes, but do not have
love, I am nothing, even if all the people at
church think I'm Supermom.

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor,
and my formal dining room gets turned into a
schoolroom, and our family vacations look more
like educational fieldtrips, and if I surrender my
body to be burned, never having time to get my
nails done, put makeup on, or even take a bath,
but do not have love, it profits me nothing
because all my family cares about is the expres-
sion on my face, anyway.

Love is patient with the child who still can't get
double-digit subtraction with borrowing, and
kind to the one who hasn't turned in his research
paper. It is not jealous of moms with more,
fewer, neater, more self-directed, better-behaved,
or smarter children.

Love does not brag about homemade bread,
book lists, or scholarships, and is not arrogant
about her lifestyle or curriculum choices. It does
not act unbecomingly or correct the children in
front of their friends. It does not seek its own,
trying to squeeze in alone time when someone
still needs help;
it is not provoked when interrupted for
the nineteenth time by a child, the phone, the
doorbell, or the dog; does not take into account a
wrong suffered, even when no one compliments
the dinner that took hours to make or the house
that took so long to clean.

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness or
pointing out everyone else's flaws, but rejoices
with the truth and with every small step her
children take in becoming more like Jesus,
knowing it's only by the grace of God when that
occurs.

Love bears all things even while running on no
sleep; believes all things, especially God's
promise to indwell and empower her; hopes all
things, such as that she'll actually complete the
English curriculum this year and the kids will
eventually graduate; endures all things, even
questioning from strangers, worried relatives,
and most of all, herself.

Love never fails. And neither will she. As long
as she never, never, never gives up.

~ Misty Krasawski