Today’s Bread ~ First Day of Kindergarten

Romans 8:18 – Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later.

Where has the time gone?

I woke up this morning to find my sweet daughter curled up against me in bed.  As I smoothed her tousled hair and kissed her rosy cheek, I marveled at the fact that she is five years old and starting kindergarten in less than a week.  Even though my children are four and five, I still sometimes feel like a rookie in the mom department.

Caitlyn and I are both anticipating this day; she eagerly, me anxiously.  Since leaving my full time job in radio this year, it’s been just me and the kids every day.  No longer having daycare as an option, we’re a package deal.  They come with me to the grocery store, doctors’ and dentist appointments; we’ve put serious mileage on the jogger stroller, and toured just about every park in the Flower Mound/Highland Village area. 

It is time for her to start school, and she and I are both ready.  But I will miss my little girl.

Caitlyn, on the other hand, has been counting down the days all summer.  Yesterday she pattered down stairs in her little bare feet a good hour and fifteen minutes earlier than usual, claiming she wanted to “practice getting ready.”  We sat at the breakfast table, she sipping orange juice and me with my coffee, talking softly about all things school. 

“Are you excited, honey?” I asked.

“Mm hmm,” came her sleepy reply.  Then, catching me off guard, she continued, “and nervous.  Were you nervous, mommy?”

I have a policy with my children: Be honest. 

I racked my brain, trying to find that 32 year old memory.  I have a vapor of an image of climbing onto a bus with my back-pack.  I recall a later year, trying to fall asleep in our New Brighton, Minnesota home, new outfit laid out on my dresser, tossing and turning a long time before sleep claimed me.  But kindergarten?  Nope.  Nothing.

“Sweetie, I’m sure I was a little nervous.  But here is what I can tell you.  I loved elementary school, and you will, too.  You’ll meet so many new friends and learn so many exciting things.  You have nothing to be nervous about.”

Romans 8:19-21 – For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are.  Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse.  All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

For the rest of the day, our conversation rolled around in my mind.  Kindergarten was such a monumental event for my daughter; possibly the biggest of her life.  At one point, it had been the same for me, and I can’t even remember it.  In fact, I can’t really remember the “firsts” of any of my elementary school days, except for the fourth grade, when we’d moved from Minnesota to Overland Park, Kansas.  I remember the pink dress I wore that my grandmother had made, and that we moved our desks into a circle.

To steal a concept from Pastor and Bible teacher Mark Driscoll, in the grand scheme of eternity, our entire lives are the first day of Kindergarten.

2 Corinthians 4:17 – For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 

Let’s not take anything away from our troubles.  I know women who are, right now, going through the heartbreak of infertility and the devastation of miscarriage after miscarriage.  A good friend of mine is, as I type, incapacitated from back and neck pain.  Right now, I am petitioning God on behalf of a family member because of a spot on his lung.  Another girl I’m praying for is picking up the pieces of her life and moving forward, after losing both her job and her husband.  People are suffering all across the globe. 

The Apostle Paul knew suffering.  In his second letter to the church in Corinth, he wrote, “I have worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.  Five different times the Jews gave me 39 lashes.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned.  Three times I was shipwrecked.  Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.  I have lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights.  Often I have been hungry and thirsty and have gone without food.  Often I have shivered with cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm (2 Corinthians 11:23-25, 27).”

And Paul, the great Apostle, author of 13 books in our New Testament, the one who saw the glory of Christ on the road to Damascus, the one taken up in a vision to the third Heaven, says, in comparison to the glory we have coming, these trials and troubles aren’t even worth counting. Oh, that we would live with the perspective of Paul.

Once we sit in the Presence of Jesus, we will realize that our entire lives on earth were the first day of Kindergarten.

Colossians 3:1-2 – Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power.  Let heaven fill your thoughts.  Do not think only about things down here on earth.

Your very peace of mind, your very joy, hinges on what you think.  What are you dwelling on?  The troubles surrounding you?  Or the glory awaiting you?  Wherever you are in life, there is more. This life is not it.  Let the truth of that statement permeate your every waking moment.  Let it direct your words and actions.  Let it affect your generosity, your service, your worship, your church attendance, and your prayers.  Let the reality of Christ and His coming Kingdom flood your very soul, driving out all earthly concerns. 

John 14:1-2 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.   In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

Dear Heavenly Father, just as Jesus implored His disciples to believe in Him, so You implore us.  Please fill us with Your Holy Spirit, reaching down into our deepest recesses of doubt.  Please grow our faith and our ability to believe, so that we can bear the fruit of peace, joy, love, compassion, grace and mercy.  Please help us to live in the reality of Heaven rather than earth, which is fading away as we speak.  Father, for those who are in an intense period of trial or testing, I pray that You would strengthen them to endure it.  For those who are in a period of blessing, I pray that You would press it upon their hearts to share their blessings.  Help us to love others like You love us.  Help us to see each other as You see us – Your precious children, no matter who we are or what we do.  Give us hands that are quick to serve.  Help us to be bold in our witness, and seek out opportunities to tell others about You.  We love You so much, and we thank You for the work on the cross.  Please help us to never take it for granted.  It is in the beautiful, holy name of Jesus that we pray.  Amen.