How to Prepare Your Heart for the Return to School

A missional life is like a ripple effect that overflows from what’s nurtured within—and I’ll say it over and again because the heart is where we must begin. It’s the beginning. The foundation. The before to a before-and-after story. It’s the arrow pointing to more of Jesus as the answer we’re all looking for.

Dear friends, as we return to school for open house visits and shop the aisles for school supplies, may you not neglect to prepare your heart for the return to school. Because adjusting to change involves more than our sleep schedules, more than having all the right supplies, more than having clothes the kids haven’t outgrown. It’s also about more than having questions about masks and vaccines answered, more than juggling pick-ups and drop-offs, bus schedules, and after-school commitments.

And I have a hunch that you feel this too: that all the busy can mask that we don’t feel quite ready for school to begin, even if we say we’re more than ready.

Maybe we’ve focused so much on the necessary things we’ve missed something quite essential.

But the heart—we can’t dismiss it without consequences.

So let’s talk about it, you and I—how to engage the heart as we prepare for the return to school.

1—Slow and listen

We might begin with simply pausing to listen. Inviting the quiet has a way of uncovering what lies beneath it all.

What’s making you weary? What is the root of your stress? What are you carrying that is not yours to shoulder? What do you fear? Where are you discontent?

As you engage, bear in mind that the goal here is to uncover and discover. Withhold self-judgment and avoid jumping to a solution. Instead, listen. Open your heart. Invite God to sift through the things that have slid out of place. He sees all and He loves you yet the same, which is fervently.

2—Ask God to guide your next step

It’s tempting to cut short the listening and jump right into action. We want to fix what’s wrong rather than linger where it hurts. Yet if we move too quickly through the listening, we might take the wrong next step, or worse yet, step away from God into self-sufficiency. And when we take the reins, we forget how we were made to need Him. The only way it works out is to stop working it out ourselves and let Him do the work.

So stay long in the listening. It gets easier with practice. And it fine-tunes our hearing. Then ask God to guide your next step.

God promises in James 1:5 to grant us wisdom when we ask:

 And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace. (TPT)

(TPT)

Likewise, we learn in Proverbs 2:6-7 TPT that

Wisdom is a gift from a generous God,
    and every word he speaks is full of revelation
    and becomes a fountain of understanding within you.
For the Lord has a hidden storehouse of wisdom
    made accessible to his godly ones.

God withholds neither Himself nor wisdom from us when we seek to know His heart. So ask Him for wisdom in how to prepare your heart for the return to school, and remember that He is a good father who abundantly loves you.

3—Remember your role

This next step before you, it’s not yours to make happen alone. Key to a prepared heart is that it has learned to yield. Again and over again. “Through our yielded lives,” 2 Corinthians 2:14 TPT says, “he spreads the fragrance of God everywhere we go” (emphasis mine).

When we live with a surrendered heart, everywhere we go, the sweetness of God’s presence goes too. Everywhere. Including back into our school-year routines.

Leave Him behind and our hearts will begin to feel wrung out. Lag behind Him and we invite the burden of trying to look and think and act like Him all through our own doing.

But walk with Him, and every step will feel lighter.

I love the way The Message frames Matthew 11:28-30. Let’s read it together:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

If you’re feeling weary, maybe there is more you need to let go.

Maybe you’re carrying more than you realized—things that He never meant for you to lug around.

Maybe your heart is not at rest because it’s been long since you’ve rested in Him.

Maybe you’re feeling depleted because all the external preparations can distract us from the essential preparation of the heart for every new season.

God sees you through and through, my friend. He sees the wrestlings deep inside. He sees the questions you’ve avoided facing. And you delight His heart. He wants to fill your emptiness with His fullness. He wants to cultivate your heart through every season, including the one that overnight is almost here.

So invite Him to prepare your heart for the return to school. Let Him do the essential work—the work that is His to do—while you practice listening, responding, and continually yielding.

Let’s pray.

A prayer as we return to school

You’re a good Father, always overflowing with abundant grace and unfathomably deep love for us. Today we surrender. We quiet our hearts and steal away with You. For these next few moments, we will simply listen. Then we’ll ask You to guide us. Help us to walk with You, yield to the ways You grow us to more fully reflect You. May we draw ever closer to You as we move into this new school year. In Your holy and precious name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

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