I met them both as a young teacher, before I had children of my own. I learned from them as they parented with passion and participated in classroom life. So different in their approaches, but they shared the same motivation: they cared so much.
Masie signed up for all the volunteer needs. Barely into the first grade year, she arrived carrying bags and boxes of craft supplies, an infant strapped to her back and a toddler dangling from her finger. With her hair pulled into a work-ready loop, she wiped the sweat from her brow and assured me, “I’ve taken care of everything!” And she had. She cared so much.
Marilyn called immediately after progress reports went home. With her bright, sweet-tempered son seated beside her, she laid out a folder containing every one of his math papers. With his rare mistakes highlighted, she methodically reviewed every error. Marilyn assured me she had checked and re-checked the percentages. And she had. She cared so much.
Moms do so much because they care so much. Few seasons have the power to stir our passion to support our children than the season of starting a new school year.
What Caring Moms Do
If homeschooling, moms pour themselves into being both the support and the structure of the learning process. They may also need to meet demands of a co-op and their local Department of Education. They wouldn’t do so much if they didn’t care so much.
Moms who have prayerfully chosen private or public school classrooms find there are frequent requests to engage in supporting the education environment. If employment adds to their combination of life, added juggling may be required. Classroom parents do what they can to cooperate, because they care so much.
So what parent are you? Whatever your school setting, you are a parent who does so much because you care so much.
What Learning Students Need
But what if I told you the most significant supply for your student’s success will be left off the back-to-school list? It’s true. What our learners need more than anything are our prayers, prayers fueled by our genuine love and a heart full of hope for the students on our mind.
Simply doing what school requires, regardless of school choice, can be enough to make a mom weary:
- Searching for supplies
- Filling out forms
- Paying the fees
- Understanding curriculums
- Explaining hard subjects
- Listening to woes
- Wiping the tears
- Communicating with adults
- Supporting the schedule
It’s easy to be consumed by meeting the needs for all the things school requires, but it’s not what learning students need most.
What Jesus Says to Moms
Just after Jesus spoke of the potential little ones have to grasp big truths, he spoke an invitation to the tired. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
We go to great lengths to do so much because we care so much, but Jesus wants us to come to Him. He will happily own the heaviness of our school seasons. Come and give your full hearts of concern to your Heavenly Father who wants to lift the heavy mama-load and give us rest in its place. We can approach life and parenting with a gentle heart of dependence on the Father. It is the lesson of receiving a light life in place of the big burdens.
In the season of back-to-school, we moms who do so much because we care so much find rest in laying all the busy down and leaving it with the Lord. His backpack can take the weight! He uses the education process to teach moms as well as students. In The ABCs of Praying for Students, I share the certainty that, “God wants to use the experience of education to teach your child the truths that matter most. The prayers of a caring adult are the greatest source of power leading to lasting student success in learning and life.”
The ABCs of Praying for Students includes 26 devotions sourced in the scripture and arranged by letters in the alphabet. Practical ideas for how to apply truth are included, along with Table Talk starters to help conversations with students of all ages to flow from the character qualities. Even if prayer is new to you, The ABCs of Praying for Students will help you engage what your child’s education needs most. The great power of your prayers at work.
Get your copy by clicking here.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
What are you doing to support your child’s schooling success? How can you lay this down in prayer and live in a “light” way, so it isn’t a burden?
SOMETHING TO PRAY
Father, I care so much about the schooling of my child. Thank You for taking on the burden and what feels a lot like worry. I’m grateful for Your strength to carry me and mine in this school year. Amen.
EXTRA PRAYERS
Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Romans 15:13a “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.”
James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
