A science lesson with my 13 year-old son this week reminded me of a concept I think is crucial to my homeschool and life in general. The lesson was on, of all things, the skeletal system. While we read about compact and spongy bone, I couldn't help thinking of the compact bone and the spongy bone of my life: structure & flexibility.
My life has a great deal of structure in it. I get up when I know I must, I eat when I know I should (I'm still working on this part), I have a time for reading, studying, exercising, cleaning, teaching, cooking, and resting. I get up everyday having a really good idea of what needs to happen to make my life work and my family run smoothly. Most days I get those things done, or at least I come close.

The other important part of what my life is about is flexibility. If something better than I had planned comes up on any given day, something I hadn't planned, I want to be able to say yes to that thing. I don't want to miss out on some really good things in my life because I am so rigid I couldn't give a little. The thing that comes up some days might not be some wonderful opportunity - it might be a sick kid, a need in our extended family, or a project we believe in at church. I still want to prioritize people over accomplishment, flexibility over structure.

A structure built in an earthquake zone is built with that quake in mind. It has to have structure or it's not going to stand. If structure is all it has, it will crumble when the quakes come. Do any of us have lives that don't quake once in a while? No one I've met. The thing that makes the difference is flexibility.

There are many wonderful families who major on one or the other of these qualities. I'm sure they will raise good children who are a blessing to our world. I'm not sure how it works for them, but for me, it simply does not work without both. Of course, at the root of it all, WHAT you're building on is as important as HOW you build. We have to have a sure foundation, a solid Chief Cornerstone and be built on the Solid Rock of God and His word. Like most moms, I'm trying to find the balance that makes life work. I'm so thankful that God has given me the structure of His holiness and justice and the flexibility of His grace and love.