In my reading of RJ Rushdoony's commentary on Deuteronomy today, I came across this gem of a passage. He was commenting on the "forty years of schooling in the wilderness" that Israel experienced and quoted from Joseph Parker:
Time has a good deal to do with testimony; time enters very subtly into all things human and mundane. Men may make a ladder in a very short time, but who can make a tree? – and how constantly we are mistaking a tree for a ladder, or a ladder for a tree! Time makes the tree; time makes character; time makes practical theology.*
Rushdoony goes on to comment, "We sometimes forget this factor of time, of history, as we work with our children."**
To all Christian parents, and to those homeschooling particularly, we must view our endeavor from heaven's eyes, patiently laboring as our saplings mature into the trees God intends.
*Joseph Parker, The People’s Bible, vol. 4, Numbers 27 – Deuteronomy (New York. NY: Funk & Wagnealls, n.d.), 85.
**RJ Rushdoony, Deuteronomy (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2008), 24.
- Andrea G. Schwartz
Andrea Schwartz is Chalcedon’s family and Christian education advocate, and the author of eight books including: A House for God: Building a Kingdom-Driven Family, The Biblical Trustee Family: Understanding God’s Purpose for Your Household, Empowered: Developing Strong Women for Kingdom Service, Woman of the House: A Mother’s Role in Building a Christian Culture, and The Homeschool Life: Discovering God’s Way to Family-Based Education. She’s also the co-host of the Out of the Question podcast, and Homeschooling Helps (weekly live Facebook event). She can be reached at [email protected].
