The past few months I have been considering transferring our oldest daughter from a private Christian school to a public school in our area…honestly this was one of the hardest decisions ever!  To be completely transparent one of my first thoughts was “what will people say?”

For the past 3 years our daughter has been in one of the best (in my opinion) Christian schools.  She was able to thrive in her studies, grow in her understanding of the Word and made some really good friends.  I initially thought that this was the school that she would be attending until she was in middle school.  I loved the positive environment, all the field trips and I had a really good relationship with the directors, teachers and other parents.

Then things started to change for me once we found out that we were expecting another baby.  Nothing about the school but just about putting our family in the best situation so that we would all be able to make an easy transition come February.  For one, I had to ask myself a hard question “was I too comfortable?”.  This didnt come with an easy answer.  And to be honest yes.  Yes, I was too comfortable.  I was comfortable with the people I was around b/c I knew essentially we believed the same thing about Christ.  I was comfortable about my daughter being in a “Christian” environment.

I was also comfy saying that my daughter went to a “Christian” school.  There was just a good feeling that I got when I said it (yeah i said that out loud!).  There’s a phrase my husband always tells the kids that came to my rememberance…”Be a light”.  My hubby has said that phrase for years but up until that moment I never really took it literally.  BE A LIGHT…a light is a light in every situation, no matter how dark or dim the surroundings may be.  A light shines brightest in unfamiliar territory not when it is surrounded by other lights…

This one phrase changed my entire perspective.  It’s time for our family to charter into unknown territory!  And that territory, for our family, just happens to be public school.  We are taking this opportunity to get to know our neighbors and neighborhood better, pray for the school, students and staff and to get involved to be a help the place that our children will be spending their time…it is time for our family to be the lights!

As we embark on this journey, I know it will be some difficult maybe even uncomfortable times.  But now more than ever, I have to rely on God and the foundation that He has given us to lay for our children.  We are our children’s first teachers and I believe that it’s the right time that we trust God and put everything that we have taught them, thus far, to the test.  It’s time for us to be the lights and not just look at the others as they shine brightly….