Shining eyes. Backpacks lined up by the door. “Welcome to a New School Year” cards on brown paper cards. Glossy new books.
How was the beginning to your school year?
I feel like I’ve endured a war. With 24/7 fire bombing.
Maybe you’ve shared wonder-filled first days and weeks with your little ones. I pray you have!
Yet, for others, I know these beginning days only seem to grow harder and more drama – loaded as the children grow older.
This is also the time doubts can sneak into our morning muses. Is he in the right school? Should I have switched that curriculum? Have I signed her up for too many extracurriculars? Am I ignoring the babies? Did I miss God’s signals?
HAVE I RUINED THEM?????
Probably not. I mean, I don’t think so. Then again, I’m not you. Maybe you have.
Just joking 😊
But you may need to remind yourself of your foundations. Remember the “why” behind your choices. Make acts of trust. Or even just add a practical “tweaking” to your morning usual. Since my one year old’s sole ambition seems to run laps on our table, for instance, I’ve rediscovered the Victorian inspired play-pen!
You could also run away.
As our roof and patio are coated with a fine, dusty pollen that intermixes sneezes with my halting reader’s valiant attempts and a cold has reached out to seize all our sinuses – in the first two weeks of school!!! – fleeing seems a viable possibility.
But, then again, I also injured myself organizing a closet the weekend before our first full week.
Sometimes, we are just a smidgen stuck.
Breathe. Just keep breathing. It’s okay. 😊
In morning prayer today, I read, “Beloved: First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered…that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity (1 Timothy 2:1). I thought, how beautiful. And then: How in the world? But, as I maintained my even breathing, I moved on to the morning’s psalm (28): “Hear the sound of my pleading when I cry to you!” Though our king may issue us a challenge, he nevertheless understands our weakness in our limitations, which seem to mock the earnestness of our desires.
Here is my mission for you.
Lower your expectations just a tad, and keep your eyes open for those special blessings of this September. You know, the special ones, which may change each year.
What has brought me joy? The squeals of my middle child when she saw all her broken crayons were replaced with new ones bearing art-worthy, mountainous tips. The four year old’s joyful insistence that he has a blue reading book (still not sure what he’s referencing….) The oldest one’s excited eyes glancing upon the newest mantle books. A week of fun field trips (which covered for the fact that I hadn’t finished writing my children’s syllabi). The strategy of my son when I stopped to introduce a new board game. The precocious baby babbling to the pages of a book she stole from a sibling.
And look for the gifts of this year. Your children will never be in this exact place again.
What treasures will mark just this time?
There will be a couple. Find them, be they books or activities or routines. Indulge them. Jot down what you’ve loved so next year – when you don’t remember because everything will seem different again – you’ll have these sweet memories to inspire you to keep moving forward.
Finally, if you have rules to avoid losing your mind in the morning labyrinth, read over them again. Or just stop focusing on what your friends are doing. Be kind to your spouse. Your spouse is not you, so their mode of schooling, the extra books they splurged on, and the schedule they’ve arranged is not what you would have chosen. Share your plan, listen to theirs, and die to yourself a little so you can honestly support them. You might have to modify your dream to share theirs. But such a change would be an expansion of your ideal, not a diminishment of it.
And remember the tools God has given you – coffee, wine, and sleep. Those are the most important, right?
Have a blessed year! It will be filled with adventure, and you, Moms and Dads, are going to learn so much.
