A Net in Time

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How to Make a Raised Strawberry Bed

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Don’t you just love the taste of fresh strawberries?   If you have never had a strawberry directly out of the patch you do not know what you are missing.   They are so sweet and delectable… just .. .YUMMY!   

You know what I hate?  Squirrels… particularly squirrels eating MY STRAWBERRIES!   Last year I had a lot of success hiding them in amongst my chives, garlic and onions… but weeding the patch was a nightmare. I wanted to put something together that was a bit more defensible.   Ergo… I want to tell you today how to make a raised strawberry bed. 

How to Make a Raised Strawberry Bed

First, you need to figure out a place to put them.  Last year I put in a herb garden to keep my hubby happy.  It worked tremendously well and our Lizzie cat soon discovered it was a great place to watch for vermin to chase.  The squirrels avoided it, ergo… strawberry bed attached???  It is also in the full sun which strawberries adore.    I talked it over with my fellow and he agreed, good place for a strawberry bed. 

We laid the footing.  The patio stones are 24 x 24 and we picked them up last year for free from a guy who just wanted them gone for the price of labour of removing them.   It was hard work for the lad and I, but well worth it. Finding ways to have my teen help me in the garden is always a good thing. 

I love working with raised garden beds.  It makes it so much easier to work individual sections of a bed which reduces the pressure to get it all done. I find it easier to weed, easier to section off growing areas, and much easier to water. 

Mock it Out

If you are less of a planner and more of a wing it person you don’t want to miss the “mock it out stage”.  This is where you put your wood and check out what your project will look like. 

This gives you a chance to see if you basic idea is even going to work.  Does the wood you have fit the space planned?  And you can better see at what height you need to cut the wood. I continued this process as I worked my way through this project.  I was determined to do it all on my own if I could.  

How to Make a Raised Strawberry Bed

I’m … not a fan of power tools.   I have this tendency to not always pay the closest attention to what I’m doing and using hand tools reduces my risk of severe injury.  So I measured twice… and occasionally three times to mitigate the need to make any more cuts than I needed.   I followed my mock out. 

Needed supplies
Handsaw, screws, scrap lumber, staple gun with staples, saw horses, old lining from pond, filler, compost, good dirt.

Second Stage

Building stage two took a bit more working to be honest.  I hadn’t originally planned on building it the way I did, but hubby made a couple of suggestions and I thought them decent.   Just so you know, to build it I used scrap lumber we had lying around.  Wood from pallets and some from an old privacy fence. Lumber is a bit expensive right now so it’s good to make do with what you have at hand. 

Stage two took a lot more fitting together to make it work. I built the sides to fit to the height of where the herb garden stopped.  This part was super easy!  I just chose wood that was all the same width and ended when I was about halfway.  The longer part was more difficult and actually resulted in me putting wood into a clamp on hubby’s work table to cut and inch off the width, length-wise.  GAH… that was a challenge! 

I lined it all with old pond liner.  I learned that our small stapler is called a T150!  🙂 Knowing this makes it a whole lot easier to order staples when stores are in lockdown.   The Liner means I won’t have soil leaking out of the bottom.  Since it’s all bits and pieces I didn’t have to worry about it becoming water logged.

strawberry bed

Once the liner was in I put a broken (accidentally!) fountain in the bottom.  My sister gave me a fountain water feature for our pond last year. They had upgraded and thought I could make use of the old one.  Bad planning/timing/footing caused it to fall unexpectedly and it shattered.  I put it to good use anyways.  I would have rather had the pond feature but one uses what one has at hand eh?  As I planned out how to make a raised strawberry bed I wanted to do so as cost-effectively as possible. 

Next, I filled my strawberry bed with compost.  All the way up to the top, and finished off with a thin layer of dirt.  Letting it settle with rain.  Compost always needs to settle before you plant it. Strawberries love a good loamy, well draining soil so putting compost down and then adding the best soil ever from my garden. The worms will break down the compost and mix in the added dirt and before you know it the whole thing will be filled completely with the best soil ever!  🙂 

What makes my garden dirt the best dirt around?   Using compost that it predominately rabbit manure gives me a soil that is rich in worms and nutrients.  My garden grows well.  I suppose you could say that everything I grow is organic.  I used to sell most of my rabbit manure.  It was a lot of work with people liking to complain or leaving a huge mess when they came to get it. I decided I’d rather use it all and/or share with friends than deal with that aspect of customer service.  

A nice week of rain settled the compost and dirt 4 inches so I topped it up to a bit overflowing. Planted my strawberries.  And now… they flower!  🙂   It does my heart good just like spending time outside is good for well-being.  Want to know something else that’s good?  Saving money!

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having a sale right now (affiliate link).   Use the code OUTSIDE to save!  

 

Strawberry Flower

Normally I would nip off the flower buds so my plants get stronger and fruit more profusely next year, but my patch has been operational for the past three years. All I’ve done is replant them so it’s good to see them flowering which means they have recovered nicely. 

When the strawberries start to fruit I’m going to place hoops over them and cover them with netting.  This way I can get into them, but the squirrels will hopefully be held off. 

I hope this post has helped you know how to make a raised strawberry bed of your own.   Just choose a nice sunny location and use good loamy, well-draining soil and you too can have strawberries that you can protect from the squirrels.  🙂

Looking for ways to use your strawberries?  Or needing to buy some tools?  Check out my affiliate links to Amazon. 

may 2021

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

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Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is a song that I have known for such a long time.  I have recollections of it being on the records my mom used to play. I think… Johnny Cash did a version of it?   At least that’s what my vague memories tell me.  ANYWAYS, it often pops into my mind and I’ll find myself singing.  I do not know all the verses by heart. 

swing low sweet chariot

Lyrics to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Refrain

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?
Coming for to carry me home,
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.

Refrain

If you get there before I do,
Coming for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I’m coming, too.
Coming for to carry me home.

Refrain

I’m sometimes up and sometimes down,
Coming for to carry me home,
But still my soul feels heavenly bound,
Coming for to carry me home.

Refrain

The brightest day that I can say,
Coming for to carry me home,
When Jesus washed my sins away,
Coming for to carry me home.

Refrain

I’m sometimes up and sometimes down,
Coming for to carry me home.
But still my soul feels heavenly bound,
Coming for to carry me home. 

Author and History

We don’t know for sure who wrote Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.  It might have been Wallace Willis, a Negro slave born in Mississippi and owned by Britt Willis, a Choctaw.   It is thought he was inspired by the Red River which reminded him of the River Jordan and the prophet Elijah. Alexander Reid, a minister at a Choctaw school Willis was at, heard him singing and transcribed the music sending it The Jubilee Singers.  Learn more at Songwriters.

Or if it was created by Sarah Hannah Sheppard a slave.  Apparently, she learned her master was going to sell her daughter and in her fear, she ran away intent on suicide for herself and her daughter.  You can read the rest of this story at the Library of Congress.   The daughter Ella was part of The Jubilee Singers.

Either way, it’s an old African Spiritual regardless of who wrote it. 

Thinking More

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is a song that has a rhythm to it.  It’s no wonder to me that when I’m doing a repetitive task that this tune will pop into my brain.  

I like this line “I”m sometimes up and sometimes down, But still my soul feels heavenly bound”.  It’s that just so true?  We don’t always feel like we’re doing well in our faith journey but still… our goal is the same.  Heaven is our ultimate stopping place.  

When Twilight Breaks

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (When Twilight Breaks) through Nuts About Books. 

I have developed a love of reading about WW2 from a variety of perspectives.  The perspectives of Americans living in Germany just as WW2 was breaking out was the focus of this tome by Sarah Sundin.  When Twilight Breaks is a light read, but introduces the reader to key facts about WW2 history. 

Affiliate Links will be used in this review, this doesn’t affect your bottom dollar and helps support my reviews!

When Twilight Breaks

About When Twilight Breaks

Sarah Sundin tells the story of American correspondent Evelyn Brand and graduate student Peter Lang in When Twilight Breaks.  Over 384 pages, Ms. Sundin brings us back to Munich, in 1938.  Germany is joining with Austria, running the communists out, and has just started persecuting the Jews.   Feeling about Germany were very mixed, and we are transported into those seething emotions of the time.    In When Twilight Breaks you not only read the history of these early war years, but also get to watch a romance unfold. 

Sarah Sundin has written several books about WW2.  This is the first of her books that I have read.  This particular book has been published by Revell which is a division of Baker Publishing Group.  A historical romance, this book is geared toward adult readers, though I could see teens enjoying it as well.  

This is by no means a difficult book to read.  The style is interesting and the characters are real.  I appreciated how determined Evelyn was to get to the story behind what she heard.  Such a determined lady, yet, with a heart to consider the people behind the stories she was after.  Even though there is romance there is nothing to be alarmed about, it’s actually mostly just sweet.  

I love when historical romance fiction does not make the romance central to the whole story.  Evelyn and Peter have their ups and downs, but it’s the story behind it all that is most important. It makes for a much better read when the story is most important. 

Should you get it?

When Twilight Breaks is written from a lite Christian perspective.  Even though faith wasn’t a huge part of this read, their growth in their Christian beliefs was evident. Peter learned to forgive, Evelyn learned that dependence on God was a good thing.  Faith inspired good action.   

Part of me was a bit hung up on Peter’s adoration of Evelyn from the get go.  It’s like… he loved her before he even knew her and I don’t like that message being portrayed.  

I did like the story itself, the learning more of the thoughts and feelings in this pre-war time, of the danger people people were in for simply expressing an opinion.  Sometimes, we don’t really understand when we think of WW2. I know I tend to think.. Germany bad, killed Jews, and that’s the end of it.  But really there’s so much more to it. And the perspective of When Twilight Breaks gave me a deeper understanding.  For that it’s well worth reading. 

Remedy Seen as a Close Measure

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According to the dictionary, the word Remedy has a variety of meanings.  It’s one of those words that is both a noun and verb.  As a verb, to remedy something is to set right an undesired situation.  As a noun I discovered two meanings, one which I knew:  a treatment for a disease or an injury.  The other I needed to research a bit more “the margin within which coins as minted may differ from the standard fineness and weight.”  It makes me wonder if we can see remedy as a close measure? 

Remedy seen as a close measure

Remedy Seen As A Close Measure

Numismatics
The study or collection
of coins, paper currency, and medals

This new word to me
Came courtesy of
Five Minute Friday.

An encouragement to
Ruminate on a simple word
Remedy.

I easily thought of
treatments and cures
or setting things right

But to consider that
Remedy also means
Something more than that.

Defined as: the margin within which coins
as minted may differ from
the standard fineness and weight

It gives some pause
A pondering on how
A remedy can be a measurement?

So I stop to consider this
If a remedy can be a measurement
of how something differs from the standard.

How do I remedy as a believer?
Is there a standard
to which I can look?

I’m reading a book
A Habit Called Faith
Not far in, yet challenges made.

Do I see the saints of old
Their struggles and their fears
Yet, so many counted as righteous

So can I let my
struggles and fears
Stop my belief?

Knowing that those
who have gone on before
Live out lives of faith, regardless.

They saw their own struggles
They knew to call out to God.
Do I remember the same?

It makes me think
of how sometimes
a bush helps us see a forest.

I need to remember
always, to see further
To see God more often.

Hebrews 11

Scripture Says

Hebrews 11

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

Effective Strategies for Engaging Teens in Music Education

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Today I welcome Nicole to my blog.  She’ll be talking about Effective Strategies for Engaging Teens in Music Education.

Children can begin to lose interest when learning music as they progress to their teenage years. Suddenly, practice pieces on their instrument don’t hold their attention, or their music lessons and studies have them nodding off during class. 

Since the global pandemic, many music educators have switched to an institution for online music lessons, allowing students to work from home. The online platform has also caused more instances of losing teens’ attention and keeping them engaged in their learning. 

Educators, and particularly those still working in a virtual setting, need to learn to adjust their teaching methods as children progress and grow. Just like their skill development, educational techniques need to grow and move, too. Here are some ways to adjust teaching styles and utilize strategies to make music education more inspiring for teens.

Effective Strategies for Engaging Teens in Music Education

Self-Education

Teenagers tend to grab more of the reins within their learning than younger children. In other words, they want to experiment and find ways independently to teach themselves. Instead of squashing this desire, teachers should encourage and cultivate this need. 

Allowing students to work at their own pace and have more power over the decision-making when it comes to their education helps develop and build confidence in their education. It also makes it much more exciting for them to learn and appeals directly to their interests.

Connecting with the Music

Making music education relatable to real-world situations is essential at all ages – teenagers included. Teachers should work to incorporate more than one genre of music within their lessons. Many start with a foundation of having their students study and learn classically, but this can become boring for teens.

Try changing it up with some jazz or pop music, maybe even working with the student on a song that they particularly enjoy and might want to learn how to play or sing. Ask them what they gravitate to on their social media music-wise and apply something to it in the next lesson. When you create a music space for the student with songs and musical pieces they enjoy or connect to, this helps keep their interest.

Group Lessons

Another excellent suggestion for working with teens in music education is to do a group lesson or class, allowing your students to meet other music-loving teenagers like themselves. You could create a masterclass either in-person or online, allowing them to show off their skills and demonstrate the musical pieces they have been working on with one another. 

You can also have them pair up with another teen, possibly working on the same musical piece or studying the same artist. Then, they will have the opportunity to work together, bounce ideas off of each other, and help one another. It is also a nice change-up from a one-on-one class or vice versa. If you do group classes, you can just have them pair up one-on-one to work together.

Start Something Brand New

Creating a change in how you teach might not be enough.  You might finds your teens still feeling bored in their music classes. Changing the curriculum or having your student play a new instrument can go a long way to developing their love for music again. 

Sometimes the instrument they are learning or the music they study no longer appeals to them. Giving a whole new focus to something else is sure to gain interest from your teens. Working with them on creating their own songs through writing and composing may be a nice change for them. After all, they will be applying it and directly relating it to themselves. Allowing them to create their own work can be very rewarding for both you and the student.

Music education provides students with many benefits, including improved socialization, confidence, and even academics.  At the same time, we can’t force musical learning upon students just because we know it will be beneficial.  Sometimes we need to follow our students decisions to keep learning music exciting. Make sure you listen and take heed to their interests, so you can incorporate them into your curriculum.

Music education is not just about studying theory and practicing scales. Though they are great foundations to begin learning with, teenage children will become bored with these methods quickly. Engaging in music they enjoy, working with other teens, and starting a new music education project such as composition, are all fantastic ways to engage your teen student and keep them interested in developing and enhancing their musical skills.

This has been a guest post by 

Nicole McCray
Content Creator
Portfolio | LinkedIn

Highschool Math with Teaching Textbooks

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

Teaching Textbooks graciously filled up my son’s math requirements for the year with Geometry and Algebra 2.   He has been steadily using this self-pace math curriculum for most of the school year.  🙂    He started the year using Geometry 3.0, and is about 3/4’s of the way through Algebra2 4.0.  I have found this a wonderful use of my son’s time to be doing highschool math with Teaching Textbooks. 

highschool math with teaching Textbooks

What I am Reviewing: Teaching Textbooks

Teaching Textbooks is a comprehensive online math program that was written specifically for homeschoolers.  This program offers courses from grade three up through highschool, finishing at Pre-Calculus.  You’ll discover that the courses have interactive lessons, step-by-step presentation of materials, solutions are given for assigned problems, immediate feedback and automated grading.  For those students who don’t want to use the animated lessons there is a course workbook.   There are incentives off with animated buddies and fun wallpapers. 

The products that we used are Geometry and Algebra 2.  Teaching Textbooks offers a free trial which is a complete version of their program up through Lesson 15. Isn’t that a generous trial period?  Both of these courses cost $67 for 12 months, and you are allowed to suspend your course if you need to.  I don’t know how long you can do that for, that would be a detail to discuss with the very helpful Teaching Textbook staff.   

How did this Online Math Curriculum Work?

The best way for me to show you the difference between 3.0 and 4.0 is thru comparison in images.  Teaching highschool math with Teaching Textbooks just got more engaging. 

The lesson area on the screen is larger in the 4.0 than in the 3.0 with larger font as well. 

You’ll find encouragement and colour with their incorrect answer feedback screen. 

The full-screen version of 4.0 fills more of the screen and has simpler navigational controls. 

One of the neat changes to the 4.0 was the addition on the interactive elements.  

I thought I had captured a “before” image of how they did the correct answers in the 3.0, but failed to do so.  Always the interaction was immediate.   The new correct answer screen is more colourful. 

One of the things I like is that the apps are readily available to use and only require the use of a password to access.  

How did we use Teaching Textbooks?

My son is a fairly independent lad so once he had the password and later on, the app installed, he simply used it.  It is a completely self-paced course and he chose to use the ebook rather than the spoken and interactive lessons.   He only used the online portion of the program to take the tests. 

The lad’s use of the ebook rather than the program.  There are several reasons why he preferred the ebook to the regular way of doing the lessons.  When it comes right down to it….. he found it faster to use the ebook.  My boy loves to do his work as efficiently as possible, anything he deems a waste of time gets his dander up.  🙂   

Ergo, being able to monitor his progress using the program simply didn’t work for me.  I would occasionally check in with him to see his progress and to talk over any concerns, but left him to it. 

Admittedly this picture is posed and I need to reassure my lad that nothing identifiable would be shown, but this is basically how he’d work.  He’d pull up his lesson, read it through, do the practice questions, and then go back to do the tests.  

I have to admit, it was a bit disconcerting at first to realize I couldn’t monitor his progress with the clicking of a button, but needed to physically check in on him.  That’s worth it’s weight in gold actually in my world!  When you have a very independent lad… it’s so good to have a reason to talk with each other.  This… I like!  🙂   I am so pleased that Teaching Textbooks offers the ebook option as it works splendidly for how my boy likes to work. 

Oh look! Marking results! 🙂

My son informed that he’s filled in some of his test scores so I can see how it all looks.  He’s doing well which I’m delighted to see.  BUT if you go to the gradebook you can see how they are doing which is lovely is it not?  

This is particularity that my lad has.  He does all his chapter work but doesn’t do the test immediately after.  My son’s goal is just to learn and in a lot of ways doesn’t want to be bothered by tests.  He’ll then review his knowledge and go back and do the tests (mostly because I expect him to).  He says he learns better doing it this way as well.  He does this with virtually everything course he has unless he has no choice. 

I really like the teaching highschool math with teaching textbooks is so easy.  They engage all types of learners. 

My Son’s Opinion

It was an okay program although I didn’t like the normal lessons. I liked that I had the option to use ebook instead of the normal lessons.  It did a pretty decent job of explaining things.  Most of the time I could use the program as it was designed, but sometimes I wanted to know a bit more, or needed extra confirmation that I understood it properly.  I would just go to youtube when I wanted that help.   

I didn’t like the normal lessons because I didn’t care for the narrators voice and I could read faster than he spoke. If I could have found a way to turn him off I would have.  Using the ebook as I could do the lessons faster and I liked that. One thing I would like to see is in app volume control.  I liked doing both geometry 3.0 and algebra 2 4.0.  There was less wasted space with the 4.0 than with the 3.0 which I much preferred, though I wonder why the lesson space couldn’t fill the whole screen rather than just a small portion.  By increasing the viewable lesson area the font size could increase and/or you could put more material on the page. 

My Closing Thoughts

I will initially hesitant about doing this review as my last foray with Teaching Textbooks (grade seven) was a total bust.  It was!  BUT this year, my son has not complained about doing his math.  He simply does it and is happy to do so.  He’s a boy who likes math and is picky in his course materials.  So it works for him!  WOOT WOOT.  I am so delighted I added this review to our curriculum choices this year. 

If you have a child who doesn’t like interactive math programs and likes mixing workbooks with online materials I would say that doing highschool math with Teaching Textbooks is an excellent alternative for you.  Give it shoot eh?  Try the trial period and so it going completely at their own pace works for your student.  You will find yourself pleasantly surprised. 

Social Media Links

You can find Teaching Textbooks on the following platforms.  

Hashtags: #hsreviews #TeachingTextbooks

SEO Keywords: Homeschool Math, Homeschool Math Curriculum

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Read the Reviews

Did you know that 31 members of the Homeschool Review Crew worked with Teaching Textbooks so we could explain how their math curriculum works?   If you’d like to know more than just my thoughts, click through the image below. 

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A Forest of Trees

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Thinking about this prompt… a forest of trees.  I find it spurring on some questions for me. Can you have a forest without trees?   How many trees make up a forest?   What exactly is a forest … is it just a bunch of trees?   And if it’s just a bunch of trees… what number do you need to make a forest?    Then I have to consider what I should write about.  Should I write about nature schooling?  Or even forest school?   Perhaps I should do links to various “learn a tree” unit studies?   Perhaps I should do a post teaching about Trees of Ontario?   I suppose in some ways the sky is the limit, isn’t it?   Makes me curious what others members of the crew will do.    In the end, I think I’ll just let the muse take me where it will.  

Amazon affiliate links used in this post, helps to support my blog, no extra cost to you. 

a forest of trees

Problems in definition of a forest

One of the problems folks have in conservatory work is that a forest is not a defined number of trees.  We know that it’s more than three, but how many more?  Is a forest JUST trees?   Not really, Instead, it’s a mixed biome with flowers, ferns, mushrooms, critters, bushes, shrubs and trees.  In fact, the smallest noted forest is the Kakamega forest is just under 90 square miles whereas the largest forest spans 2.2 million square miles as the Amazon Rainforest.    In Canada, the Boreal Forest Region covers 270 million hectares, and spans the length of our country.   This doesn’t really answer the question though, of when does a bush become a forest.  90 Square miles is quite the plot of land, so can a forest only reaching 70 square miles be considered a forest?  Even 20 square miles seems a forest made…. or even 10!  

Locally we have a dump and surrounding it a tract of forest…. which we call a swamp as well, and it doesn’t cover 10 square miles. But when you walk through it, its not small like a woodlot would be, it’s foresty for lack of a better word. 

Small groups of trees go by such names as wood, copse, grove, orchard, stand, bush, woods, thicket, woodland, brake, trees, growth, or cover.  Smaller woodlots can give us a glimpse into the large clime of a forest, giving a more manageable microcosm to explore. 

person walking between green forest trees
Photo by Luis del Río on Pexels.com

Can A Bush Help us See a Forest?

 As a child, I spent hours in our bush.  Listening to birds, finding flowers, observing the seasons through the trees, fishing in our pond, and watching the local wildlife.  A love of nature was thoroughly installed into my bones. 🙂 

But you know what happened the first time I walked in a true forest?   The wind whistling through all those TALL TALL trees…it spooked the very heart of me.   So totally unexpected.  Though I’d been through our bush on windy days and got a glimpse of wind through trees… the vastness of tall trees swaying and whistling in the wind was unexpected. So as much as a bush or woodlot can give a glimpse of a forest… it doesn’t give the whole picture. 

So as much as a woodlot, bush, or grove of trees can give you an idea of a forest, does it really give you a solid knowledge of the vastness and breadth of a forest?

When we go camping we like to go for hikes. This past year I mildly spooked my fellows as I got myself a bit turned around in a forest and it took some thinking (and I’m not good with knowing my east from my south) and a good couple of hours walking, to get myself home again. I just figured “I’m in big ole’ park, I know the lake is THERE so I should start seeing pointers for a walking trail somewhere”. And I did and all was good… but it wasn’t a walk in the park and kinda stupid on my part. Trees were literally everywhere. It would have been so easy to have gotten completely turned around and gotten myself into difficulty.

Parallels Drawn

Since I am raising a child who is asking questions about God when I’m prompted to look deeper into a detail, I need to consider it. I see parallels here between a bush and a forest, between child and teenager.  Between learning with a teen, and seeing God more clearly.  

We’re told in scriptures that we see now as in a glass dimly.   We can read about it in 1 Corinthians 13

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

red trees
Photo by Artem Saranin on Pexels.com

Bush or Forest?

You see…. I never knew what a forest truly was until I walked through one. I’d never really thought about how long you could walk through one without finding an end. Forests require trails through them so you can find your way out of them again!  Forests require you to have a plan and the smartness of telling people where you are at!

A bush or woodlot… it might take you a bit of time to make your way through it, but you can eventually find your way out (as long as you keep your head about you and have some woodcraft skills).  They generally aren’t big enough to cause serious alarm if you get misdirected a bit. 

To make our way through a forest you need to know excellent woodcraft and wildlife skills.  You need to know how to navigate the hidden and known pathways.  Being safe is harder in forest than in a woodlot.  Knowing how to get through a bush will HELP you in learning how to get through a forest.  It can.

Does Childhood Help Prepare for Teenage Years?

As I further consider the difference between a bush and a forest, and how one is kinda like a dim version of the other.  I kinda wonder if God allows us those childhood years to help us prepare for the teenage ones?   What do you think?

I think of the relationships we build through childhood and how it helps us to understand our youngsters.   This understanding helps navigate the teenage years better don’t you think? These teenage years force us to develop skills in clear communication, in life skill teaching, and in understanding matters of faith.   

Sometimes we need to remember we don’t have to have all the answers… AND our teens don’t have to have all the answers or all the questions yet.   SOMETIMES our job is merely to ask questions and give them room to think.  Or perhaps to spur on their thinking so they can ask questions not just of their parents, but of others that are placed in their lives. 

The teenage years are fraught with emotions and hormones, laughter and maturity, new skills and a thousand new questions.  It’s like a forest with tall trees and no easy way through them at times.  And just like in a forest you don’t know if you’ll meet a bear or a pack of wolves, in the teenage years, you don’t know what ideas will grab a young person’s mind (and possibly their heart).  Talk with teens, try to understand their hearts and minds.  Try to prepare them for hard questions and harder answers, but really, help them keep their hearts soft and flexible.  Give your teens the room they need to think, feel and become the person they’re supposed to be.   

question mark illustration
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I don’t have all the answers

But I am learning.  I’m learning to say “I don’t know, let’s figure that out together”.  I’m learning to simply ask questions and to leave them open. A parent doesn’t always have to know their teen’s response to a question.  Sometimes a question just needs to sit.   My longing is that we’ll learn to ask better questions of each other, and better questions of God himself.  To see his word as truly the answer to those big questions. 

Perhaps, as you navigate your teenagers and their questing hearts, you’ll discover some questions I haven’t thought to ask, and you’ll help me discover answers, and I can help you too?  What do you think?  

Can this forest of trees of our teenager’s lives… be a dim mirror that helps us to see the forest of God’s truths more clearly?  It’s teaching me a lot for sure!  I guess my question is… how do we help our teens?  How do we walk it in community with them giving them a safe place to ask questions?  To provide them with the knowledge it’s okay to not have all the answers as long as you keep looking for them?

april 2021