What a breath of fresh air it has been to see such optimism on my FB feed lately. Of course it has to do with all these adorable children heading off to another year of school. Wide-eyed wonder and excitement about what this new year will hold: new friends, new adventures, more challenges that open their minds to possibilities, understanding and building those little minds. They aren\u2019t perplexed at all about what\u2019s going on in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I especially appreciate how optimistic you parents are with your bold confessions of faith for your kiddos. Maybe the first couple of days were a tackle with getting in a routine again, but for the most part, I\u2019m hearing a sigh of relief that another year is underway. I loved one mom\u2019s prayer: \u201cMy prayer tonight as G___ gets ready to take those steps into Middle School and D___ starts a new school year with an unexpected twist. Of all the dreams I have for them, Christ follower is at the top. They’ve got this and He’s got them.\u2665\ufe0f\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the attitude we should all have for our children and grandchildren. Of all the knowledge they acquire, all the common sense experiences that they will learn from — the single most important achievement is to be devoted followers of Christ in their friendships, in the decisions they make and their problem solving with God\u2019s wisdom leading the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke 2:52 mentions four areas Jesus grew in as a young boy: \u201cAnd Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.\u201d Our Lord grew wiser and He physically grew. His relationship with His Heavenly Father continuously strengthened. Jesus even gained favor with people who saw Him day to day. I love the simple sentence that precedes this: \u201cHis mother kept all these things in her heart.\u201d We never see Mary worried and anxious. She pondered about her son, but she didn\u2019t allow her heart to become rattled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May we all strive to be like Mary, turning our anxious thoughts into treasured prayers, kept safe and held fast by our loving Father \u2014 the one who knows our hearts and loves our children even more than we do. When a concern pops up in our mind, we carry that concern to God. When we start to fear for our child\u2019s future, we petition the One who knows what the future holds — the One Who knows everything about everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heavenly Father, I pray for all these precious children that are starting a new school year. Protect them, encourage them and fill them with strong minds to learn and grow. Help them to be a great friend and to have great friends. I pray the moms and dads turn their concerns and worries into prayers, knowing You are in control. Please help them to treasure each moment with their children as they grow in wisdom and stature and favor with others and You. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philippians 4:6-7, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving; let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What a breath of fresh air it has been to see such optimism on my FB feed lately. Of course it has to do with all these adorable children heading off to another year of school. Wide-eyed wonder and excitement about what this new year will hold: new friends, new adventures, more challenges that open…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14339,14338],"tags":[1891,14335,1893,749,5302,542,43,997,1514,7760,6770,2114,1493],"class_list":["post-10788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-possibilities","category-potential","tag-back-to-school","tag-confessions-of-faith","tag-dont-worry","tag-jesus","tag-knowledge","tag-mary","tag-optimistic","tag-philippians-46","tag-possibilities","tag-potential","tag-stature","tag-wide-eyed-wonder","tag-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10791,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10788\/revisions\/10791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}