Back-to-School Preparations

Dear Friends in Christ -

I've been feeling a little anxious, a little edgy the past couple of days. And I've been wondering why. There's no burning reason why I should. Things are going well with my family and at the church. Our extended family is doing fine, and we've been spending some good time with friends. So what's the trouble?

As I was buzzing around yesterday doing errands, I figured it out. This is a time of transition: summer ending, the kids going back to school, a shift into the rhythms of "school year" mode. Whenever I - or any of us - go through transition, there's a lot of emotional stuff in the mix: grief over what didn't happen - things we didn't get to do, people we didn't get to see; frustration over the bumps in beginning new things; anxiety over whether or not this new season will meet our needs and be satisfying.

Yesterday, as I was running errands, I stopped by Walmart to pick up some household cleaning supplies. And suddenly I found myself in the kids' clothing section. "What am I doing here?," I thought, shaking myself, "Wynne and Ben have all the clothes they need, and we bought her new school shoes weeks ago."

And then it hit me. A huge part of the shopping and fussing and running around that happens as we prepare for "back-to-school" comes from our tension, anxiety and fear of new things. Our culture has taught us to manage those emotions by buying stuff. Kids don their brand spanking new first-day-of-school outfit as if it's armor that will shield them in the new arena they're entering. It won't. As adults we know that, but we're afraid to admit it to ourselves. We want them to have armor, for their sakes and for ours.

Want to really be prepared for the new school year? Spend a little extra one-on-one time with your kids over the next couple of days - and I'm not talking about time rushing around at the mall! Linger over dinner at home and talk about your hopes and dreams for the year. Go for a long walk together. Anything that allows you to talk and share together. (Wynne and I are going paint our toenails tonight!) Say extra bedtime prayers together.

The best way we can prepare our kids for going back to school is to live what we know to be true: the strength and safety we need to face a new day is not found in "stuff" but in God, the One who loves us and who is already making a way for us in the days and weeks and months ahead.

Faithfully,
Janet+