Recently I heard, or read, “Self-discipline is not just not doing what you know is wrong. Self-discipline is also doing what you know is right, even when you don’t want to do it.”

Homeschooling in February is one continuous exercise in doing what you know is right, especially when you don’t want to.

It’s cold (maybe). It’s rainy (maybe). The sun is not shining (definitely). Sickness abounds (definitely, and everywhere). Spring seems a million days away, and the excitement of the holidays seems a million days ago.

Pursuing godly behavior in yourself, as the teacher-mom, is even more difficult than teaching godly behavior in your kids! You’re supposed to be the model, the example, and you want to nap, or eat chocolate, or cry, or do all three. In the deepest, darkest moments, you gaze fondly at the yellow school bus as it passes your home early every morning.

In biblical terms, this is called sanctification. This is the process by which believers become more like Christ.

I want to tell you that you aren’t alone. And I want to encourage you with what I know is the best encouragement ever: Scripture! You believe that God wants you to bring up your child, to educate them in your home. He is with you, even in these long days of February!

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

I Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers (sisters), stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

I Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my  slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Second Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day! – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Second Peter 1:5-8 “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

And, yes, not all of these verses in their proper context have anything to do with homeschooling.

Okay.

None of these verses in their proper context have anything to do with homeschooling.

But.

Each of these verses is ultimately about the believer’s sanctification. And what is homeschooling in February if it isn’t sanctification in the life of the mother?

Hang in there, sister. The sun (and the Son) is coming!