Two Things Every Parent Needs Before School Begins

It’s back to school time!  I’m receiving texts with pictures of new school outfits, backpacks, and school supplies as well as hearing reports of anxieties concerning new teachers and new friends from my grandchildren and their parents.  

I vividly remember those days and if I’m honest I miss them at times.  

If I had to do it all over again, there are two things that I wish I would have focused on more at the beginning of every school year:  Grace and Peace.

Oh, how I wish I would have given my children more of His grace and chosen to dwell in His peace.  Regretfully, there were too many mornings filled with chaos and stress.  

The Apostle Paul began each of his letters to his spiritual children, the churches he had a part in starting or nurturing, with one greeting:  Grace and peace to you.

Paul was all too familiar with stress and chaos.  He desired for his children to experience God’s grace and His peace.

Grace is God’s unmerited favor.  We can’t earn it and we certainly don’t deserve it.  Paul prayed grace over his children knowing they were imperfect yet loved unconditionally by their Father.  Paul knew their mess-ups and loved them in their mess.

I remember walking into my oldest daughter’s room and it was a total disaster.  Dirty clothes, sheet music, scripts, and half-eaten food cluttered the floor.  Although she had left for school, I was already rehearsing an angry speech to give her upon her return.  Then I heard the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit:  “Donna, sit in her mess.  Pray for her.  I daily sit in the messes you have made.”   

This was not God releasing this child from the responsibility of cleaning her room. This was the Holy Spirit teaching this mom to give a child the same grace He gives me every moment of every day.   

Peace is best defined by the absence of strife.  It is resting in God for the outcome of every circumstance and relationship.

There were so many mornings in our home that were not peaceful because of my anger.

Angry because a child was late, didn’t eat breakfast, didn’t do their homework, was fighting with a sibling.   It took years for me to learn the truth of James 1:20, “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”    My anger was not going to make my children quit fighting with each other, be on time, remember their homework, or make good grades.  

Paul knew his children needed peace in order for the churches to grow.  They needed to look different from the world.  Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you: my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives…” John 14:27 

My children needed a peaceful mom, not an angry mom, as they approached their day at school. 

As you and your family begin this school year, Passion Promise Ministries is praying “Grace and Peace” over your family.

We have a free tool that you can utilize to pray over your children every day before school.  Simply go to www.passionpromiseministries.com and click on the “prayer resources” tab.