Today was the first day of school for many students in our area, and for the first time in 17 years I didn’t have a child starting school. No first-day-of-school outfits. No first-day-of-school special lunches.  No first-day-of-school pictures with new teachers.  No first-day-of-school reports (or interrogations, as my children might call them:-) at the end of the day.

Like the many moms and dads bemoaning the fact that summer is over, I, too, sense the transitioning from one season into another, but on an even larger scale.  Summer was the season of having my children with me in our home.  Now that the last of our children has graduated high school, that season is over for our family.   Summer was so much fun—the season of life full of laughter and adventures together with my kiddos. But, just as it did between school years, summer must eventually make way for fall.

Fall’s not so bad, though. In fact, fall is fun, too, just in a different kind of way. Fall has always been full of new beginnings, learning new things, discovering classrooms and teachers, settling into new routines. It’s no different now, except this time, I’ll be the student instead of my children.

What does the Great Teacher have in store for me as the summer of life comes to an end and fall begins? What new subjects does He have for me to learn? What new projects will there be to complete? Will I pass the tests to come? Will I embrace this new season, or miss the joy ahead because I’m too obsessed with trying to hold onto summer?

God of every season, grant me grace to do Thy will,

          to embrace this crisp new season, to live fully even still.

          Thank you for the summer, for the time with children home,

          Help me enter Fall with boldness and find peace in you alone.