Back-to-School Blues

Welcome to the new year! If you have kids- I bet you are feeling... a little overwhelmed. I don’t know about your house, but in ours it’s not only the start of school and homework and new routines with a new grade, it’s also about activities and playdates and back to school night, committees and PTO and events to plan- not to mention demands at work for yourself and your spouse.

As moms, we are pretty good at helping everyone start strong- we work our mom magic- to help everyone ease back into the routine. We cook favorite dinners and turn the lights down a half an hour before bed. We open up the blinds to help the kids wake up on time, we read favorite stories and buy bath salts, we send care packages to college and we seem to know how to send a text at just the right moment that helps with roommates and classes, and we do everything that we can think of to help our families relax and settle in.

On Monday evening, I was enjoying being back at session and getting back into the swing of things at the church, but also keeping an eye on my watch and hoping that the kids were getting to bed on time- when Shelley Sherman, our elder for Christian Education shared that she was feeling the same way. I don’t know exactly why- but it felt so nice to know that I am not alone.

Shelley brought up a great quote from C.S. Lewis- that helped me remember that not only do other moms feel the same way that I do- but that God is always there for me- even helping me and my family ease into the routines of a new year.

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become- because He made us. He intended us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be... It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”

–      C.S. Lewis

My prayer for myself, and for all of us moms: 

Loving God, please help our kids transition into this new year- please give them a great year of growth and development- becoming the young men and women that God intended them to be. That, we can remember that in all the work that we do to love and support our families, that we are never alone- not only do we have a community that loves and supports us, we especially have you, our loving God- who is with us every step of the way. Amen. 

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Rev. Deborah W. Huggins