The Necessary Thing (and a Basket That Will Help Teach It) |

As a mother, there are many things I want to teach my children. My head swirls with all the responsibility. They are my gift from God, and I desperately want to train, educate, equip, discipline, and lead them so that when they leave my house they are ready. I want to them to be ready to face this world.

Every day, there is another item added to the list of “crucial information my children need to know before they leave my home.” That list is long and varied. I want my children to know how to be polite. I want them to know how to clean and how to finally learn how to put something back in its place! (Can I get an “amen”?) I want them to know about their country, and I want them to see that this country is indeed exceptional. I want them to be able to write and read in cursive, and I want them to be able to read a clock that isn’t digital! I want them to be familiar with the parts of an orchestra and to know what the inside of a real theater looks like – and could someone please teach at least one of my children how to play the piano?

Then, because I am a homeschooler, the list seems to grow exponentially. Even now, we are learning to identify types of verbs, we are memorizing a long list of prepositions, and we are learning when to double a consonant. We are locating countries on a map and learning about latitude and longitude. We are learning about sea life, and this week we learned the difference between a sea lion and a seal. Our heads are full of line segments and rays and diameters and regrouping and the constant drilling of addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

Then there are the books I want them to read. I want them to read good books and even the great books. There is just so much, and the task is daunting. I feel the weight of the responsibility. I wonder if I’ll be able to do it.

Just then, when I am about to crumble under the pressure, I will think of the words of Jesus to Martha.

In Luke chapter 10, Martha herself was crumbling under the pressure of preparing a meal for Jesus and His many followers. Martha, I’m sure, wanted to be certain she didn’t leave anything undone. This pressure made her come undone! She was so undone that she complained to her friend and Lord that Mary had left her to serve alone.

Then, Jesus said the words that chastise me and sooth me at the same time. He said the words that give me hope. Jesus said, “Martha, Martha you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” The question that we should ask, then, is, “What is the one thing that is necessary?” The answer can be found in verse 39: “[Martha] had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching.”

You see, it is very easy for me to spend all my time teaching my kids the things I think they “need” to know. Sometimes I am anxious and troubled about it, just like Martha, and I need the reminder that the one necessary thing is that I teach them about God and His Word. If I neglect that, I have, quite literally, neglected it all.

Children who grow up with a top-notch education and children who star on baseball and softball teams will have nothing when they stand before God on the Day of Judgment if they don’t have the necessary thing. I don’t want to be among the parents who have given their children the whole world and nothing else. The world will pass away and be taken from us, but God’s Word cannot be taken from us.

With that in mind, I have made it a goal to teach my kids to stop every day and “sit at the feet of Jesus.” On our hearth, there is a basket. It is our Bible time basket. It is filled with Bible story books, charts, prayer reminders and prayers to memorize, books of the Bible cards, Bible games, and–who knows–I might even squeeze a writing assignment in there every so often. The point is, I want them to see that, above everything else we are learning, God’s word is far more important, because it is the only thing that will last. We have Family Bible time. Our kids memorize verses, they are reading through the book of Matthew this year, and they have a daily Bible reading schedule that goes along with their Bible class at church, but I want the Bible time basket to be more about their individual time with God.

Here are some pictures of this simple basket. I hope it encourages you to put something before your children daily to help them “sit at the feet of Jesus.”