I'm not sure who's got more back-to-school butterflies - the child who's going or the parent who's sending him or her. When it was our children, it was like everybody took a crazy pill that morning. Tons of stuff to remember, tons of questions. Thankfully, my wife was a super organizer - she was the glue on those mornings of new beginnings.
Then, it's been our children sending their own children to school or college. And, in a lot of ways, there can be more reasons for back-to-school jitters than ever. It often seems more cruel in school than it used to be. Innocence can seem gone by about second grade these days. Really big temptations hit way too soon. And there are a lot of lies being taught as truth.
When our oldest grandchild beamed down on the strange planet known as Junior High, like a lot of schools nowadays, they had instituted some security measures that would have seemed extreme when our children attended junior high. But these are different times.
Parental fears are as much a part of back-to-school as new sneakers and notebooks. Understandable fears. Not to mention those butterflies your son or daughter is having.
That's why our sons and our daughter and their spouses have had a Prayer Chair. Their young scholars sat in a chair at home on the night before school started or before they headed off to college, just like their parents did years ago. I don't know what you're picturing when I say "Prayer Chair," but ours sure wasn't some celestial-like throne, surrounded with an eerie glow. It was just a plain old blue armchair. But on the night before school started - and at other important times - that chair became holy ground.
That's where our children - and now our grandchildren - were committed to God's keeping every minute of the new school year. It's where a family planted their feet on a promise from God: "I know Whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him..." (2 Timothy 1:12). Except that "what I have entrusted" had names - my children's names. We covered their teachers, their friends - old and new, their studies, their temptations, their choices. A lot of butterflies flew away at the Prayer Chair.
One year, I had the opportunity to pray with my daughter just after she'd sent her firstborn off to yet another school milestone. My prayer for her and our grandchild went something like this:
"Lord, You made a promise, and it's bigger than any fears or anxieties or questions we may have on this emotional day. Here's what we're counting on. You said You tend Your flock 'like a shepherd.' You 'gather the lambs in Your arms' and You carry them 'close to Your heart' (Isaiah 40:11). You know the 'lambs' we've sent out today, and into a place where there are plenty of 'wolves.' But we know the Almighty God, our all-powerful Shepherd is carrying them close to His heart everywhere they go. They're out of our hands, but they're not out of Yours. They're beyond the sound of our voice, but they're not beyond Yours. They're out of our sight, but they're never out of Yours. So we know they're okay. And because they're okay, so are we."
This is why "God has not given us (as a mom, dad or guardian) a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).
That's a good thing. Because a fearful or freaking out parent just breeds more butterflies for their child.
We really do have "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). At these anxious, sometimes bittersweet, crossroads of life, it is so game-changing to belong to a Savior - a Shepherd - like Jesus.
Originally published August 26, 2010