Crayons, New Pencils, and Prayer
Posted by Martha & Greg Singleton , Sunday, August 15, 2010 6:15 AM
As brand new boxes of crayons, tablets and colorful folders take front and center in stores, the excitement of new beginnings catches on, and parents begin shopping for book bags and blunt scissors and school shoes, eager to fully prepare their children for the approaching school year.
But for parents and kids alike, new situations also can produce new anxieties, and the most important preparation for every family member is prayer.
Whether our kids attend public, private, or parochial school, or we teach them at home, we need to remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but has in fact called us to take His message of redemption and hope to our neighbors and communities.
Discuss with your kids their individual roles, and your role as a family, in showing the love of Jesus. Let your children express their hopes and anxieties about the upcoming year. Talk about the needs you are aware of in your school and community.
Then, as a family, begin to pray for your elementary, middle and high schools. Pray for administrators, teachers, students and their families. Ask for God’s protection, His grace, His blessing, and pray that His truth will be evident in every class, and His love be revealed to the entire community. Even if you are active home schoolers, we would encourage you to make it a family project to pray regularly for your public schools.
An engaging, meaningful object lesson that will help your children visualize the effect of their prayers would be to read the story of Jericho in Chapter 6 of Joshua, and then in the evening walk the perimeter of your school, each family member silently praying for all who are connected with it, and for your own family’s interactions there. While it is certainly true that God will hear your prayers wherever you are, that mental picture can encourage your kids as they go through the blessings and challenges of the coming school year.
Make it a point this year to keep your prayers for your school and your passion for your neighbors and community as sharp as those bright new crayons, and see what beautiful things God will do in and through your family this school year.
