Building Habits on the Dry Bones of Education

During my recent travels, I heard a song by Gold City that gave me the theme of this article. That song was “Dead Bones Rise”. This song has long been one of our favorite's, but that day in particular, it really touched my heart. I was exhausted from the tedium of day to day life. I really needed GOD to help my “dead bones rise!” My spirit was parched and my soul was weary. I had not taken the time from my busy schedule to have a quiet time alone with my Lord and it was beginning to show in my behavior and my spirit. As I sang along with the radio, I was singing from my heart straight to the throne of GOD.

Ezekiel 37:1-10, “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And He said unto me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ and I answered, ‘O Lord GOD, thou knowest.’ Again He said unto me, ‘Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’ So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me, ‘Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, ‘Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”

I began to feel that day, that indeed the “hand of Lord was upon me.” As Gold City's song says, “...the regenerating power from the throne of GOD above, let it breathe the fire upon you, and fill you with His love, Dead Bones Rise!” Just reading the above passage filled me with hope and the peace of knowing that even in my driest times, GOD is still able. He could fill me once again with the fire of the Spirit and fill me with His love.

As I began to survey the valley around me, I could see that it was indeed full of the “dry bones” of my works. I had been labouring in my own strength and the fire and passion of my heart was exhausted. I had come to the end of myself and even my children were not giving me the joy that I knew I should have. Something was missing and I knew just what that something was, the love of Jesus.

GOD had a bigger plan for this article and song than my own needs. As I began to look a little closer, I began to see a bigger application. I began to look beyond my own needs and consider the needs of others. Just that one act of taking my eyes off my own circumstances and considering others did a lot to improve my situation. Therein was the message that GOD would have me bring to you today. Simply put the message is this: you can build life giving habits from the dry bones of your education. You can put life back into your home school.

The valley around me is filled with parents struggling to implement habits in their homes. Habits that will transform their home schools and bring the peacefulness and cheerfulness that they have only heard of. But every time they try to implement these good habits, Satan comes against them and they begin to be discouraged. Bad habits are abounding and discouragement is keeping them in perpetual defeat. It seems that good habits are the mountains surrounding this valley or plain, and there is no way possible to climb to their heights.

In verse 3, GOD said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” That was the cry of my heart and the hearts of so many others that I had heard from so recently. And just like Ezekiel, we can only answer, “O Lord GOD, You know!” GOD can take the hay and stubble of our works and transform them into the gold and silver. These are the works that can be tried by fire and not be consumed. But if our works are dead, how can they be transformed into a living sacrifice to our heavenly Father?

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, “But someone will say, how can the dead be raised? With what kind of body will they come forth? You foolish man! Every time you plant seed, you sow something that does not come to life unless it dies first. Nor is the seed you sow then the body which it is going to have later, but it is a naked kernel, perhaps of wheat or some of the rest of the grains. But GOD gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body its own.”

Through all of our good works we must daily die to ourselves and our plans and wishes. Only after this death can GOD come in and bring new life to our homes. When you are filled with despair, cry out to the One who knows despair. When you are frustrated beyond belief, cry out to the GOD who can and will bring new life to your weary spirit.

GOD brings us to these points so that He can teach us that He is the Lord! It is not everyone that GOD trusts with hard times. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have it easier than you? Maybe it is because GOD knows their heart and knows that they could not endure to the end. Be blessed by your adversity, GOD is still the GOD of the valleys and the storms. It is He who commands the winds of change. It is He who tears down and it is He who can build it back up.

All we are doing in this season of our lives is planting the seeds that must die to us, to bring life in the lives of our children. Have you felt this death? Have you felt this despondency? Wait parents! At the darkest part of the night, the light can shine the brightest! Shine Jesus shine, fill our hearts and our homes! Bring new life to the seeds that have been planted in the hearts of our children.

“the observing of rules until the habit of doing certain things, of behaving in certain ways, is confirmed, and, therefore, the art is acquired. This system is so successful in achieving precise results, that it is no wonder there should be endless attempts to straighten the whole field of education to the limits of system.”

And so we are teaching and sowing the very seeds of life into our children. But Charlotte Mason teaches us, as does the Bible, that there is something that will always and constantly oppose us. That something that wells up in the most obedient of children and causes them to rebel. That something is the sin nature of Adam.

This nature of your child is what he is as the sum of his heredity and his own physical and mental constitution. This nature is extremely strong and the very tool that satan will use against you. As parents we can choose to let this nature run its course, sort of “just let GOD handle it” as some say, (which is entirely against Scripture.) Or, we can choose to prune the early shoots of their nature and train them into the straight and narrow way.

As we begin this time of training, we must remember to feed them spiritually and intellectually with straight Scripture and whole books. Feeding their minds on ideas and their hearts on the very word of GOD. In doing so, we make our own paths, and those of our children much straighter and easier to navigate. Easier because we will be giving them the tools to do war with. War against satan and his emissaries.

If we are wise, and “Trust in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding...” we can take their training out of the valley full of dry bones. These dry bones can be representative of the dry, boring textbooks that so often are given to children. These books that are filled with facts but no life and the cause of intellectual laxitude and the disease of boredom.

By reading to them straight Scripture we will be saying to them, “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord GOD...” This will bring light and life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Follow the lines of their nature and their interest. The reading of whole, living books will feed their minds on ideas and you can identify their field of interest. Allow GOD to lead through your heart and prayer. He knows what is best for each one of your children! GOD can give you the wisdom and discernment to know the direction to take for each of your children. And for the most part it will be different for each child.

But GOD, in His rich mercy, can take these dry bones, this willful nature of your child, and make them into something living, breathing and useful to our whole lives. He can take the education that we provide through real, living, whole books and breathe life into our homes and our bodies.

But what is our bodies according to God's purpose? We know the answer in one easy statement! Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. The sent one. We didn't ask for Him, He is a gift freely given to us by Jesus Christ. After forty days of waiting and purifying their hearts, Jesus sent to the Apostles, and all of us, a Comforter. This Holy Spirit is the sent one that manages the circumstances of our lives to bring glory to GOD the Father. It becomes our duty to take each of these circumstances and respond in such a way that will glorify the Father.

I say bodies for this reason. Have you ever noticed the posture of a person that claims to be bored. They slump down in their seats and they cross their arms across their chest. This is a slovenly and defiant posture. It says, “I dare you to try and get me interested in anything!” There is no sparkle in the eye of this person. No interest to quicken his step or raise his head. Nothing to cause him to breath deeply of the very breath of life or partake of the fruits of the spirit.

In Ezekiel 37:6-7, GOD continues by say, “And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.”

So with this promise of verse 6, comes a warning in verse 7. Did we dare to think that things would go easy for us when we left the bare bones of canned curriculum and textbooks? Well, if we did...boy were we wrong! It is never easy to leave the broad road and venture out into the straight and narrow. With the decision to leave the way of the world comes a spiritual war. Satan in no way wants this to be an easy transition.

Many people have started out on this road to life and have quit along the way because it was too hard. They have tried to put the sinews and flesh on their bare bones of education. They have tried to cover it all over with a layer of Scripture and put the breath of life into it, all without GOD. Parents, we cannot add the breath of life! Only GOD can! But why is it all so hard?

Just think about what you have done! You have brought home a child who has been spending eight hours a day with a roomful of other children. Who do you think they were patterning their behaviour after? Right other children! Do you think they learned wisdom there? No! They learned childish ways that will bring shame to their mother! They learned useless facts that they could recite for a test. But they had no relationship with these facts.

After a period of time, they became just like us and can no longer remember what they learned last week. Why is that? They had no interest in the subject and no reason to retain this knowledge. Only by following the interests of our children and moving at the speed of their own intellect can our children truly profit from these years of training.

What can you do about this? Well, verse 7 says there will be “a noise and a shaking!” You can just imagine what this means. The noise of trying to conform your children to acceptable behaviour. They don't take new shapes easily. Have you ever tried to train a young tree by staking it? It continually tries to pull away from the stake! Only by slowly tightening the ties will you bring that sapling into line with the stake. If you pull too quickly, and tighten too much, you endanger the sapling and possibly break the trunk or injure the bark. Either of these scenarios can bring disease and death. Both of these scenarios spell disaster for your child and your home.

But what about those of you who have never sent your child to school outside of home and you are still having “a noise and a shaking?” This is because you are changing your rolls. You have taken on a new roll in the life of your child and this will take some getting used to. Change is never easy if it is for the long-term good. Satan will not like the changes you are trying to make.

Remember who you are fighting! It is not your child you are fighting, but it is your child who is causing the problem. Their disobedient, rebellious behaviour is just an outworking of their confusion. Confusion is a work of satan. There is also uncertainty caused by their not knowing what to expect. You can help this uncertainty but explaining exactly what you expect from them. Enlist their cooperation to make this schooling a success. Give them daily duties fully on their level to complete. Make them a partner in this endeavor. Train them in the habit of helpfulness.

GOD our Father has a commission for parents. He knows the trails that we will have to endure, and He knows the hearts of our children. Let's look at this next passage and see what GOD has to say about the hearts of the children of Israel. I believe there are some comparisons that we can make between these children and our children in their natural state. So back to Ezekiel we go!

Ezekiel 2:1-7, “And He said unto me, ‘Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.’ And the spirit entered into me when He spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that spake unto me. And He said unto me, ‘Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. For they are impudent children and stiff hearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.’”

When I first read this passage I felt very overwhelmed. To apply this passage to our families very much explains why our children act in this way. Have your children ever been impudent, stiff hearted, rebellious? Have you ever felt your heart groan within you at their words or been dismayed by the look they gave you? I have! I have felt many times that they just weren't listening to me. But it gives me great comfort that I am facing nothing new.

Hebrews 6:10-15, “For GOD is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when GOD made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.’ And so, after He had patiently endured, He obtained the promise.”

This gives me so much hope to endure through the most trying days. GOD is faithful and He will reward those who labour in His name and for His purpose. On those days when it seems that nothing I am doing is working, and the children are driving me nuts, I go back to Hebrews and reread the promise.

Thus by training our children in habits along the lines of their nature we begin to harness their natural abilities, we can use habit to force their nature along new lines. As in my book, “Habit Revisited,” I am talking of the natural path of habit that is being worn like the track of a train into their brain. When we begin to train our children in a new habit, patience and forbearance become the commanding attributes. This is a new habit for us as well. In order to train our children in a new system of doing things, we must first train ourselves to follow this system. In this way, habit training takes on a whole new face. We can not train our children if our own habits are slovenly.

We must always remember that we are not only training their will, but their flesh also. In order to teach them to write neatly, we must train their hand to hold the pencil in such a way as to accomplish this task. Also, it goes the same with speaking, look at the following quote and glean with me from the wisdom of Charlotte Mason.

Charlotte Mason said, “... to correct bad habits of speaking, for instance, it will not be enough for the child to intend to speak plainly and to try to speak plainly; he will not be able to do so habitually until some degree of new growth has taken place in the organs of voice whilst he is making efforts to form the new habit.”

Remember their physical limitations when you begin to train them in new physical habits. These things take time, usually about six weeks for a new habit to form. Again, it is habits of discipline and diligence on our parts that will make the difference. Are you willing to spend the time now for the fruits later?

Ezekiel 37:8-10, “And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me, ‘Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”

Notice in verse 8 Ezekiel’s perplexity that there was still no breath of life in the bones. Great things had started to happen, but the life still wasn't there. This is the way it is when you have accomplishments in your school, but the joy just isn't there. This is the way it is before GOD completes His work. There is surely no joy in the course of learning new habits. The constant continuity that is demanded to build new habits can be pure work. But once the habit comes, then the joy of accomplishment arrives. It arrives slowly as the new habit begins to take shape. Little by little it becomes less work to accomplish the task. We know the pure joy when the task becomes automatic and we hardly even notice when the change occurred.

Don't limit yourself to the normal things! Bring the joy of Classical Music into your home and watch their joy as they move to the beautiful music. This music can change the whole atmosphere of your home. It calms and it soothes, just the medicine needed for stressful times. When you bring Classical Music into your home, introduce a biography on the composer.

Once GOD breathes the breath of life into your home, His work can be done in the lives your children. During this discipleship period you will be fitting them out for battle. Teach your children about the Armour of GOD. GOD is raising them up to be part of a “great army.” They must learn how to wield the Sword of the Spirit with love.

This is also a habit we parents must learn. We can only teach our children if we model the example before them. Children learn best by example. If we will lovingly model the habits of Jesus before our children, our children will be taught the very best way. All the sermonizing in the world will never change things if the lessons of love are not taught by example.

Here's what happened: Emily had her first practice for “The Nutcracker Ballet”. We arrived right on schedule to discover that her teacher had not yet arrived and there were several children waiting out on the sidewalk. Because it was raining, I brought them into an interior hall out of the weather. As time passed and still no teacher, I began to get irritated. Another adult was also present and she began to make phone calls. We discovered that the teacher had forgotten about the practice. This practice was to have lasted an hour and a half. Needless to say, I was anything but pleased. To be honest, I was just plain mad!

This is where it gets good. I had to make a choice. Was I going to jump the teacher as soon as she arrived for our regular 2:30 class, or was I going to act in love and try to understand? I remembered my prayer of a few hours earlier asking my father GOD to take my plans and change them according to His will. Here was faith in action, did I truly mean my prayer or was it just meaningless words?

As Emily was sitting across the table from me at lunch I made my decision. I would be understanding with Vicky and try to help the other parents understand. I wish you could have seen the light in my daughter's eyes when I told her of my decision. There was love in her eyes, and thankfulness and pride. There was the love for me, because I had chosen to not stay angry. There was thankfulness that I was not going to embarrass her with a scene at the Ballet Studio. There was pride that her Mommy wouldn't be so low as to belittle her teacher for making an honest mistake. This was all the recognition I needed and I knew we had shared a holy moment when a life changing lesson had been passed on.

This is the kind of moment when you teach your child how to master their will, and control their temper. This is the kind of moment when GOD gets the victory and satan is defeated. I want my children to have these kind of memories. There have been too many times when I thought of what “I” deserved and what wasn't fair to “me”. When I had the “right” to be angry and they had no “right” to treat me that way. During these times GOD was not on the throne, the big “I” was. During these times, satan got the victory and I brought shame unto my Father. These are the times that I am ashamed of now.

The power of prayer in their lives reminds me of the power that Moses received. Moses cast his rod (his possession, what he had in his hand) on the ground before GOD, his obedience brought him back into GOD'S will. GOD has placed our children in our hands for training. Are we going to be worthy of this calling on our lives? GOD knows that we are worthy or He would never have trusted us with these children. He knows our hearts and our needs before we ever even utter them in prayer.

So, as we hold our children up in prayer, we are emulating Moses. When Moses held the rod up in the air, the children of Israel prevailed in their battle. But when we grow weary and let the rod (our children) down, satan (our enemy) becomes the victor in this battle. Parents, we must prevail in prayer when we can prevail in nothing else. The only thing that was ever hurt by prayer is the gates of hell. This battle will not be over until our Lord Jesus comes in clouds of glory. We must be, and train our children to be, good soldiers labouring for our Lord.

Will you rise to the call today? Will you pray for the Spirit to bring the breath of life from the four winds into your home today? With the power of the Spirit we can build the sinews, muscles and flesh onto the bare bones of education in our homes. Through prayer we can cover it with skin and GOD will provide the breath of life. Begin today to build the habits of a successful education on the dry bones of your works and let GOD breath life anew into your home school.

If you are interested in learning more about habit training and your children, click here to check out one of our most popular titles: "Habit Revisited" by Mary E. Woodis. God has used this book to help hundreds of families and yours could be next. Won't you pray about adding this book to your home library today?