The start of a new school year gets me so excited!
Even before I was a preschool teacher or worked in kids’ ministry, I just loved the start of the new school year. I think I would get more excited than my kids about going shopping for school supplies, new backpacks, and clothes. I couldn’t wait to buy fresh new crayons that weren’t worn down, newly sharpened pencils, crisp blank notebooks ready to be filled, color-coordinated folders that matched the notebooks, and then a nice binder to hold things together.
And trying to find the right color or type of paper to make book covers out of – yes, book covers.
They are a thing of the past now, but gosh, I loved covering a textbook. None of those stretchy cloth covers for my kids. Oh no, we covered the books with blank paper so they could decorate them, just like I did in high school.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
And the clothes – oh, the clothes. With my daughters, we’d plan back-to-school shopping with new tennis shoes for each sport and what jeans and tops could be mixed and matched well with things they already had. We needed shorts to match the school t-shirt for spirit days and the right jeans for the right pair of boots. It was all so much fun when my girls were in school – but they are now well into their twenties.
God gave me a third child nine years after my younger girl, only this time it was a boy. And He laughed. This boy didn’t care if he had a 24 or a 64-count box of crayons. Ugh.
This boy didn’t worry about his folders matching his notebooks. Sigh. This boy didn’t want a new backpack each year. What?! This boy hated shopping for clothes when he was younger. We’d just find shorts he liked and buy them in every color. Boring!
It took so much of my back-to-school shopping excitement away. Many years, he wouldn’t even want to go with me. I’d wander the aisles of the store without him, picking just the things on the list in simple colors and sometimes not even matching.
This boy just started his senior year with the same backpack he’s had for maybe all of high school. We didn’t even buy any new notebooks this year. His inventory is basically a couple folders he barely uses to bring papers to and from as needed and his school-issued laptop. The only thing that I did buy was a bulk pack of 60 mechanical pencils.
For all the money that I have saved on other school supplies each year, I think I have invested heavily in the mechanical pencil industry. This boy can’t keep track of pencils to save his life. So he grabs two or three every couple of days on his way out the door from the bulk box. And when it starts to run low, I get so excited to wander down the school supply aisle of the store looking at all the fun supplies but grabbing just another box of pencils.
Just because my son doesn’t share my enthusiasm for new school supplies does not mean he doesn’t see the new school year as a fresh start. While my girls some years felt like they would live or die based on which of their friends was in which of their classes, he is much more laid back about that. The girls would be sharing texts with their friends about what their schedule was as soon as it came out, and there would be a giant spreadsheet or Venn diagram of all their friends’ classes on the wall hours later. On the first day of school last week, my son left not knowing if any of his friends were in any of his classes. He wasn’t stressed about it at all. He knew that he would make friends and be just fine in any class setting he got put into. And that got me thinking about God.
I love the start of the new school year for kids because it’s like a reset – a brand new year to find new passions, meet new friends, and set new habits. I’ve often made the comparison of this time of year to how God sees our lives through Jesus. The death of Jesus on the cross wipes away the past and lets us start each day new in His eyes. I love how 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” We don’t have to carry our old crayons or mangled notebooks into the new year. We get a fresh start every day because of Christ.
But the coolest thing is that everyone gets that same fresh start. My kids may represent very different extremes as far as preparing for school, but the teachers always taught them just the same as everyone else. Whether you are someone who has everything matching and lined up in your life or you are someone who just can’t keep track of your figurative pencils, Jesus still died for you just the same as everyone else. God still loves you just the same as everyone else. And you have the chance every day to start new in His eyes just the same as everyone else.
The new is here for everyone. And that’s something that is quite a bit better than even making new book covers.
