Nuance

Nuance seems impossible in a world boiled down to simple multiple choice questions and shareable zingers written in 140 characters or less.

I started getting really irritated today when I had an unexpected Chiro appt. and our day was already behind on multiple fronts. I had some words with my oldest and people were in some funks. .

me, I was people.

We sat down and began the day (at 10:30) with our read aloud, because that is where one must always start in a school day when our spirit is cranky (and because our Bible reading was finishing Leviticus so , yes, I was not sure if much comfort would be found specifically by beginning in that last chapter of valuations).

In our book the Suffragettes were mentioned. “What’s a suffragette mom?” the youngest asks. “They fought for women to be able to vote,” the oldest answers. “Mom, was it wrong for them to want women to vote?” “Well, no, it wasn’t wrong,” I simply replied. Once our read aloud time was over the oldest wanted to revisit the suffragettes, feminism in general and then it moved to the different waves of feminism, the good and the bad, their reasoning. . abortion, the reasonings (selfish or heartbreaking) the circumstances that led up to it and how we need to talk about those as well and yet the truth of right and wrong. We discussed nuance. We discussed binary choices. Things clearly laid out in scripure as against the Lord and what he has told us but also that many discussions (more than me want to admit), require wisdom to see the nuances. We also discussed how many people will look at history and think all the discussions should be binary, this or that, wrong or right, right side of history and wrong side of history, but that nuance and discernment and right knowledge based in facts and not bias, led by biblical principles (which is key), can in fact help us navigate history and our present and then be able to verbalize our stances in a more clear and well balanced way.

We really have lost the art of seeing the nuances, of boiling the conversation down to its foundational premises and finding where we can biblically agree and where we can’t, the exact points in which our paths diverge and how long we can actually walk along the same path with people we may disagree with (longer than we think Im sure). I am still learning how to do this well, and I pray I can learn and teach my girls this skill before they are thrust out into a world that has everything backwards. Our world is a place that evil is repackaged as good and good as evil. Attempting to justify this is wicked. Full stop.

So, first, our basis for all truth must come from the Word, we must teach this well and read these words aloud often. What is the definition of evil found in God’s word? We must teach them the binary answers and how they differ from the convictional ones. There is such failure in that recently. We have to teach them that all points of history have perspectives that must be considered thoughtfully, even if on its face we vehemently disagree. We must teach them what bias to righteousness looks like, and how that differs from a tribe mentality. Does it coincide with the Kingdom of God or a group’s ideologies that I just so happen to most frequently agree?

We have to be discussing with our kids how to be gracious when they hear people, how to search for the things we agree with, and yet know God’s word enough to see when we must be willing to die on some hills, because we are called to in joy and obedience to the Lord. We must be willing to teach our kids that sharing the Gospel and being thoughtful, yet unmoving ambassadors for Christ, is more important than winning an argument, or looking like the smartest person in the room. Do we want someone to truly know truth and be decieved no longer, or do we want to prove something else to them, something possibly based in pride?

So we didn’t get much “school” done today and that’s one of the main reasons we homeschool, or I guess, educate at home.

Deeper study is needed for us all.

We dawdle around on social media (or I do, maybe you don’t), being fed daily information but remaining empty of knowledge and lacking in wisdom. This is such a ripe time to learn and teach the souls that have been given to us, to equip them well along with prayer and instruction.

These days are short. Let’s not waste them.

-W