If there was a WotY for 2012 at Forestdale Academy @ Home, it would have to be “flexibility”. There were constant adjustments and readjustments- from automobiles going kablooey, to home repairs of the very soggy kind, to the further decline of my mother’s mental capacity as a victim of Alzheimer’s.

Looking ahead to 2013, I want our Word of the Year for 2013 to be “purpose“. Inspired by
2 Timothy 1:9 ~

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

I want to fulfill my purpose in Christ, as a child of God, a wife, a mother, and an educator at home.

Purpose can be used as a noun, to indicate

1. the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.
2. an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.
3. determination; resoluteness.
4. the subject in hand; the point at issue.
5. practical result, effect, or advantage: to act to good purpose.

or as a verb

6. to set as an aim, intention, or goal for oneself.
7. to intend; design.
8. to resolve (to do something)  Definitions from Dictionary.com

I want to live my days on purpose, with purpose. We can remain flexible, but not be tossed to and fro by every wind of circumstance. We can order our lives according to Biblical principles with the kind of confidence that faith inspires and supports. We aren’t of the number who sit around waiting for a mystical sign from God to reveal His will, when He has already revealed His designs for us through His preserved written Word.

Homeschooling with a purpose means that we make decisions with our ultimate goal in mind. Not just academic or career goals, but the overall objective should be that in all we do, we honor our Lord and Savior, and endeavor to be a blessing to others.

When John said, in 1 John 2:15, that we are not to love the world, he wasn’t talking about being friends with someone who is not of our faith. He wasn’t wagging his finger at us about television or movies or jewelry. He wasn’t saying that we can’t love the color of our kitchen, or love the dog, or love Quarter Pounders with Cheese. He was warning us that these temporal things should not be how we give our lives meaning. Many earthly things can be experienced and enjoyed within Biblical boundaries, but they are not to be beloved or dear to us. ‘Worldly’ things are those possessions and actions with no eternal weight or meaning according to God’s purposes.

So when we make decisions about our service to the Lord as a family of homeschoolers, the call to a higher purpose moves us to be more discerning, more circumspect, more aware that we can live with resolve to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives.

Ephesians 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, 
being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Word of the Year Blog Carnival
at Ben and Me