Beginnings and endings bring me to tears. Beginnings because I’m letting go, walking into the unknown, being brave. Endings because I’m overwhelmed by gratitude.
And both are sacred.
God starts the Bible with “In the beginning.” Jesus ended His ministry with “It is finished.” God is certainly in the messy middle we call daily life yet He highlights His character by teaching us that He is the First and the Last.
Why do I believe that beginnings and endings have such great power? I believe that God is there, and that He relishes them very much.
Here is a prayer for your beginnings, your endings, and the new school year:
Dear Daddy,
When the sadness and fear of dropping off our student to a new school or a new grade threatens to overwhelm, remind us that You see our tears and cry alongside of us. You don’t scold us and say that our tears our silly, You simply sit next to us in the sacred silence of togetherness.
When the ache of our child’s new chapter continues to grow, be our comfort. When we think of our child leaving for college and the regret of what we should have said or done but didn’t screams in our soul, be our reminder that You parented our child too and that Your grace is sufficient. When we wonder if we said enough, if we did enough, and if we prepared them well enough, whisper to us that You alone are enough.
Whether we took them to their kinder class, dropped them off in the carpool lane, sent them off to boot camp, or unloaded a U-haul for their dorm, may we remember that they are in Your hands. There is nothing that you do not see, hear or notice.
You love them God more than we do. You are with them when we can’t be. You are their protector and provider. May we rest in knowing that our children are always in the palm of Your mighty, never-failing, always-gentle hand.
We love you Jesus. Amen.