Happy Birthday George!

One of the best perks of having been a homeschool mom for the past 20 years is that I learned all sorts of things I never knew before.

Take George Washington.

My knowledge of Washington after 12 years of public school and 4 years earning a history degree was as follows:

• He chopped down a cherry tree and learned not to lie.
• He crossed a river in a boat with some soldiers when it was cold and won a battle.
• He had a really bad winter in Valley Forge.
• He had wooden teeth so he never smiled.
• He won the Revolutionary War.
• He was our first president.

Impressive amount of knowledge, don't you think?

After diving deep into the waters of our country's founding, time and time again with my different students, I have learned a bit more.

But this time around, going through it again with my youngest group, I discovered some very interesting facts that I had totally missed before.

The most illuminating one was this:

• George Washington lost more battles than he won in the Revolutionary War.

That's right.
He fought in 9.
He lost 6.
He won 3.

And because of that there were politicians calling for his resignation.
There were critics that hurled insults.
There were generals underneath him who thought they could do a better job.

And it seems he had nights of deep questioning and severe doubts about what he was doing and why he was doing it.

Listen to this quote:

"I have often thought how much happier I should have been, if instead of accepting of a command under such circumstances, I had taken my musket upon my shoulders and entered the rank, or if I could have justified the measure of posterity, and my own conscience, had retired to the back country, and lived in a wigwam."  ~George Washington

I understand how he felt.
I have thought many times that a "wigwam" in the back country would be a marvelous idea.
Away from the struggles.
Absent of the dissenting voices.
Ignorant of the climatic events that are surrounding me.
Free from the worries of the future.

But just like George, I have no choice but to keep on fighting.
As a woman of honor with a higher calling than myself, I must keep trudging on in the face of apparent defeat, without enough supplies, hearing the nagging voice of doubt ringing in my ears, all the while attempting the look of confidence for those who are following behind me so that they aren't tempted to give up.

In the end, it didn't matter how many battles George won.
It mattered WHICH battles George won.

He won the last battle!
He won Yorktown. The one that mattered. The one that ended the war.

So keep fighting. Whatever war or battle or difficulty or obstacle that you are facing, however many times you have already been defeated, however bleak the future appears or hopeless the circumstances seem......keep fighting.

It does not matter HOW MANY battles you win.
It matters WHICH battles you win.

Don't. Give. Up.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."   Galatians 6:9