Dig In: A Blessing for This School Year

{I originally wrote this as an exhortative blessing spoken out loud over the parents at my homeschool co-op. But I think this is for all of us this year. So I changed a few things up and made it for you. It looks at 3 different ways we can dig in <3)

Dig in.

Dig in—to community.

Dig in—to friendships and mentorships.

Dig in—to the ground on which God has placed you.

Your city. Your neighborhood. Your church. Your marriage. Your family.

Dig in—to The Truth with a capital T

Dig in—to books, to learning, to possibility.

Dig in—to the work of parenting.

Of thankless tasks, of the slew of little things—

dishes and diapering, picture books and pancake stacks,

grumpy attitudes and juggling acts.

Maybe they seem small,

but watch the years go by and see how they add up all.

Stop looking beyond where you are now—you know what they say about greener grasses.

Here—

is a good place to dig.

{Dig into Community}

Maybe we’ve had fields lying fallow—our lives and relationships locked down and socially distanced. We’ve backed away from pain in the places we thought it shouldn’t be found—in churches and communities. But it’s time to break up that fallow ground. To break through awkward first greetings and school and Bible study meetings and the assumption everyone else has all the friends they need.

(They don’t).

Dig in.

Let your roots press through the hard soil to find life. This might hurt you, but this same space will also nourish you. Remember, God is Redeemer. It is the same place of wounding that becomes our place of healing.

{Dig into grace}

Break up, dig in, put down seed, stretch out root.

Reach out.

It’s an act of faith: so much waiting before you ever see the growth above the soil.

Isn’t that parenthood?

So much work with whiney sinners (who we love more than life itself!)—and it takes years of consistency and continuing on and embarrassing grocery aisle tantrums and apologizing to kids who pushed the right button to make an expletive appear on our lips—and so much more wiping up liquids than we could have ever conceived—before we ever see the fruit of our labors.

And we labor in this hope: that we—moms and dads and these kids entrusted to us—are His workmanship created for the good works He planned for us.

Our kids aren’t our masterpieces.

This is hard for the parent to remember. We’ve got so much skin in the game. Lord bless us, we look for validation, but there are no annual reviews or good-job stickers for parents. We take it all on ourselves when our little ones scream in the stores or run behind the counters in restaurants. We see our kids’ challenges, their attitudes, their struggles as a measure of our worth instead of as an opportunity for God’s grace. The enemy of our soul whispers: “You’re Failing.”

Don’t run from your failures.

Instead, dig into His grace.

You have a Partner who is far more patient than us—Whose ways are above ours—Whose grace is sufficient—Who uses imperfect people to carry out His perfect will.

We, parents, are disciple-makers. We are the unlikely world-shakers.

Dig in—we shall yet bear fruit.

{Dig into Hope}

We’ve dealt with more than our fair share of uncertainty this past year.

But isn’t every finite thing uncertain?

Isn’t it then worth putting down deep roots, stretching, reaching, tapping that eternal source of life?

Isn’t the true marker of life in Christ known by the mysteries below the surface?

Unseen prayers.

Peace without understanding.

Joy in spite of pain.

Drought and wind and storms—and yet it can remain—because hope that is seen isn’t hope—and we have this hope as an anchor for our souls.

So we stretch our roots deeper, in places we can’t see or understand, and we find ourselves sustained.

The Old Testament Hebrew uses this word interchangeably for hope and trust: yachal. It literally means to remain. To stand in one place.

You know? After having done all this, to stand.

Steadfast, immovable.

To remain. To abide. To have roots dug deep.

This year?

Let’s dig in.

“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.” Luke 6:48

By Grace,

Amanda Conquers

PS I’d love to know how you are planning to dig in this school year.