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Time to put this on the Bus
As the end of August rushes closer, I began to pray for my students and parents for the coming school year. Bits and pieces of prayers offered between cleaning out the last of the summer refrigerator’s clutter, finding and polishing school shoes, and lingering trips to finish the welcoming hall bulletin board masterpiece. Even as the sun created longer shadows on the beach, I prayed for these families. They never knew, but I prayed. Never doubt there is prayer in schools.
Putting your child on the bus was always stressful, even before we had active shooter drills or bomb threat evacuations. I felt each time as though I was offering my child to the world. “Here is the child I adore, not perfect but oh so valued and loved. Please be patient and kind and see all that we see and love.” But knowing no one else will see what a parent treasures, there comes a moment when still I took my child’s little hand and gave them over to the unknown - confident God is already there.
And as I understood children were put on the bus with the same love, and that some were not, I stood at my classroom door for thirty years, hoping my smile and my excitement was an answer to prayers said and unsaid.
Of course, not all teachers and students are perfect. And as a parent-teacher, I learned some of the challenges our children face at home. Classrooms and halls are painful but important lessons as well. I felt blessed they faced those challenges while we were there to help them navigate the necessary coping and growing experiences. Now, seven grandchildren face first days - bus or not. Clothes, computers, phones, social media, class requirements and opportunities differ vastly from 1979, but many things remain the same.
In one way or another, we are all still the child who needs to get on the bus and face new experiences, people, and opinions.
I am now getting ready to send in the final approval of my book, The Radiance of Grace. It feels like I am putting it on the bus.
