Happy July my dear friends! If you read my last post, How to Treasure your Summer with your Kids, you know I am spending more focused, intentional time with them. So far this summer we’ve taken leisurely bike rides along the beach, curled up on the couch together for family movie night and danced and laughed while enjoying live music as the sun set. We are and will continue making memories that will last a life time.
Before we know it the summer will come to a close and school doors will open. Now is the time to begin praying for the school year ahead. If you’ve been around here very long you know the passion I have for praying for our children. Today I have invited my friend Julie Sanders to share with you the perfect tool to help you begin praying now for your child’s school year. Whether you have one beginning their very first year of school or beginning their very last year of school, the ABC’s of Praying for Students is the perfect tool to help you set them up for success through prayer.
Julie, thank you so much for joining us today on The Calm of His Presence.
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Back to School night and Open House might be designed to help parents relate to students. It’s that event when grown ups get their own assignments and usually receive a stack of forms to fill out. By that time, they’ve also received a list of essentials and notifications about where to sign up, read up, and show up. While coming out of our summer coma, the school schedule threatens to hijack all other parts of life in motion. Before anyone gets dressed for the first day, parents are already making decisions about where to invest and what matters most.
Some of the moments that matter most are moments we might miss.
Like “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards,” (Song of Solomon 2:15) little moments lead to growth and student success in the Back to School experience. In The ABCs of Praying for Students it’s clear that simple truths from God’s Word and simple events in life lead to the significant lessons learned for our students and for us as parents. To stay with the theme of the ABCs, take a look at these five small but mighty moments in a school day. They are also five of the most important moments we just might miss.
5 Small but Mighty Moments in a School Day
- The Alarm – However yours sounds, it’s the sound of decision. When the alarm alerts us of the time to rise, we make a decision. Will we honor the morning by giving ourselves enough time to be a peaceful parent? Will we protect our time to pray? Will we utter words or dependence before we even push the covers away? Will we meet our student with welcome in our voice or anxiety in our attitude? We have the power to start our student’s day. The moment the alarm sounds may be our biggest opportunity of the day.
- The Breakfast – We start the year with good intentions and food in the pantry. We might even think about the Food Pyramid, but plans sink like granola in a cereal bowl. Breakfast success includes food, but it also includes a body at rest, words of blessing, space to awaken, and nurturing the soul along with physical needs. We do so much for our students, because we care so much. Rather than neglecting it, breakfast can be healthy without a plate, hot dish, silverware, or napkin. The best breakfast includes a blessing.
- The Commute – Your morning commute may include a school bus, carpool, car line, or walk. It may look like a kiss and wave at the door, or like a drop on your way to work. However your commute happens, it creates the direction of the day. The gift of a quiet drive might be what your student needs. A hand on the shoulder might be more loving than a lipstick kiss. Pausing to pray together might be the blanket of blessing needed. However you roll to get to school, make getting there part of your care and success plan.
- The Doorway – Unless you’re a kindergarten parent trying to let go at the classroom door, most parents won’t be there for this small, but meaningful moment. The arrival to the education environment may feel monumental every day for some students. For others, it’s a fleeting event. The arrival at the door and the entry through it delivers a learner into their place of work. Talk with your student about how to do this moment well, and it will pay off in confidence, a sense of calm, and comfort that paves the way for the day.
- The Exit – If the hardest part of anything is the start, the lasting part of anything is the exit. How does a student end the day and leave the learning setting? A child may be worn out and checked out by the day’s end. Help your child think about that part of their day and equip them to learn the art of ending well. Many children experience anxiety in transitions. Talking through events and troubleshooting before it’s a problem can remove anxiety and empower a student with personal plans for how to tackle that time, instead of being overwhelmed with what to take, what to remember, and how to navigate the commotion of closing down a school day. Pray about this together and ask God to teach your learner what it looks like to finish a day at their work and transition to home or after school care in a peaceful, healthy way.
These five school day moments are small, but mighty. We might miss them if we aren’t tuned in to their significance. We make the most of minor moments when we prayerfully prepare ourselves for their arrival every day. In The ABCs of Praying for Students, you’ll find inspiration to think outside the curriculum box. The combination of scripture, inspirational thoughts, real stories, and tips for application will help prepare your thoughts and prayers to make the most of the meaningful moments in your student’s day.
The ABC’s of Praying for Students is available for pre-order now and will release July 16, just in time to wrap your prayers around your student’s new school year.
If you’re a mom who does so much because she cares so much, The ABC’s of Praying for Students will help you give your student what they need most – your prayers. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,” (James 5:16b).
Each devotion focuses on a single Bible passage, with a clear illustration of how it connects to what a student needs to know and grow. Practical applications follow, along with ideas for Table Talk starters to use with your learner.
The most powerful thing we can do for our students will never be found on a school supply list. The ABC’s of Praying for Students will help you engage what your child’s education needs most. The great power of a parent’s prayers at work.
Julie Sanders is a teacher committed to encouraging grown ups to engage the power of prayer
in their student’s education. She isn’t sure when she first learned to love learning, but education
has been written in her story as long as she can remember. Over more than twenty-five years of
work in education, she has been a teacher, professor, mentor, tutor, consultant, trainer, and
leader. Most recently, she directed early learning programs across Eastern Oregon. Julie’s
professional experience and education shape her message of lifting up learners through the
power of prayer.
As a communicator, storyteller, and teacher, Julie loves creating truth-filled, practical tools that
speak to the needs of people. She is the author of Expectant: 40 Devotions for New and Expectant Moms and a regular contributor in the Pray the Word Journal series. She is also a
contributing writer for Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Multitasking Mom’s Survival Guide.
Julie is a sojourning Southerner, living in the Northwest with her husband Jeff of three decades.
They love working together cross-culturally and helping people learn what matters most. Their
own two students are now grown and off to teach around the world. It makes Julie’s teaching
heart happy.
Julie prayed through every day of her daughter and son’s educational journeys. As a mom and
educator, she loves helping others know how to pray for their students in what matters most for
learning and for life.
