Listen

The Lord proclaims: When Babylon’s seventy years are up, I will come and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.

Jeremiah 29:10-11

Think

Exile. For 70 years the Israelites were separated from their homeland. Separated from many of the comforts they knew and their everyday routines.

The past year and a half might have felt a bit like that for you. Schools shut down. Many worked from home. Eating out, visiting friends, normal everyday activities were altered, and then slowly our world came back to normal… or very close to it. And while we spent so much time at home, our normal everyday lives were upended.

Now here we are with a new school year and it feels like we can plan. Maybe this morning your stomach is full of butterflies: nerves, excitement, anxiety, or more. Wherever you find yourself, this we can trust: God does have a plan for us and God will be walking with you as we go throughout this school year. We do not have to live in exile from the One who made us and loves us immensely. Know confidently that God is with you as you walk into the hallways.

Marnie Fisher-Ingram

Pray

God, as we start a new school year, calm the butterflies in my stomach. Help me to confidently walk into a new year knowing your deep and abiding love. Amen.

Go

Go into this world confidently.
Go into this world free from fear.
Go into this world full of peace.
Go into this world with kindness.

Go knowing whatever normal is for you, God loves you. God is with you.

Go.