Proverbs 4: 1-27                   Back to School                   August 19, 2007

       Tomorrow, most of our young people will be returning to school.  I was in the library this past week picking up some books in preparation for the start of school.  I overheard a librarian talking to some elementary child, saying, “Please, be quiet. The people next to you can’t read.”  One boy responded, “That’s terrible! I’ve been reading since I was six.” 

      So how many of you are prepared and ready for the start of school tomorrow?   There are so many items to purchase.  Back to School season rivals Christmas for stores.  There is the clothing.  The backpacks.  The athletic shoes.  Musical instruments.  The lists of supplies.  The Texas Instruments T183 calculator.  Most parents spend a significant amount of time and money preparing for Back to School.  But what about the Spiritual Preparation?  Have you prepared your family spiritually for the new year of school?  This morning, I want to suggest three tips for Back to School that can help make this a great year for you and your family.
        First of all we need to realize that every child is home schooled.  The Home School movement has really exploded in recent years with thousands of children in Greenville County now Home Schooled.  However, we need to know that every child is home schooled.  Wherever they attend school, your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews receive the biggest chunk of their education from the life they see at home.  What are our children seeing at home in the way of spiritual preparation?  So many Christians are concerned that there is no prayer or Bible in schools, but I am more concerned that there is no prayer or Bible in the home.  Before we protest about prayer getting back into the public schools, let’s make sure we have prayer in our homes, at the dinner table where we actually eat together, in family devotions where we read the Bible together, in evening prayers where we end the day together.  You see, our children always learn the most at home.  Schools, even as valuable as they are, are only an assistant to us in raising our children.  God has given us the primary responsibility in raising our children to be people of strong character.
     Deuteronomy 6 says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  This new school year, I would challenge you to make it a new priority in your home to educate your children in the ways of God. 
         Now many of us may be thinking, “Well, I do not know how to talk to my children about such things.”  My second tip for this school year is to make a commitment to communicate with your children.  How to do that?  When they want to talk – you need to take time to listen.  Take time.  Take time.  Parents and grandparents, it is vital that you take time to know what is going on in your child’s life.  What are they learning at school?  What friendships are growing or dissolving and why?   What do they enjoy, what do they dread?   Our homes can become an open place of communication where no topic is off limits.  I know for many of us, I know for myself, that when I was growing up, there were topics that were never spoken of in my house.  But that is a problem.  As parents and grandparents, we need to tell the truth about alcohol and drugs and sexuality.  At what age do we discuss these things?  At all ages, we communicate to children as they are able to understand. 
      Proverbs 4 shows us a father communicating with his sons.  “Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding…When I was a boy in my father’s house,… he taught me and said, "Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live.  Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme…Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”  

     Let me ask you; are you concerned that your children and grandchildren get wisdom and understanding on how to live their lives?   I am not talking about mere information, data, and technology.  I am not talking about the kind of education whereby our children learn someday how to make a living.  I am talking about the wisdom to know how to live.  We live in the age of the information superhighway.  Cheap information is easily available everywhere around us to fill our heads with little effort.  But wisdom and understanding require discipline, work, thought.  Wisdom and understanding will not come to our children or to any of us by clicking a mouse.  Learning how to live a life of quality comes as we communicate with one another, face to face.  Wisdom is a communicable illness, caught directly from one person to another, a parent to a child.   
     Now I know all this seems difficult.  Many of us feel overwhelmed these days.  That is why my third tip is so important.   Encouragement is essential.   There are enough negative forces in the world already.  Our children are often crushed under the weight of negativity, poor self-esteem, and lack of confidence.  God calls us to lift up the spirits of our young people with encouragement. This year, look for how you can be a more positive encouragement to your children.  I heard of one father who was examining his son’s report card filled with D’s and F’s.  Finally the father said, “Well, one good thing I am proud of here is that WITH THIS REPORT CARD, YOU CERTAINLY ARE NOT CHEATING.”    How about it folks?  In the power of God, we can give our children the encouragement they need to succeed.  Remind your children that they belong to God.  Psalm 139 says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.”  All God’s works are wonderful and your child is a wonderful work of God.  On the hard days, remind your child of that fact.  Remind them that you brought them to the waters of Baptism.  Share those family stories again and again so that they know how wonderful it is to be part of the family of God.  Maybe you feel that you just do not know how to do this.  Maybe you feel that you are not smart enough to tell them what they need to know.   You need not be that smart.  Every parent’s goal is to be half as great as you’re 5 year old thinks you are and half as dumb as you’re 15 year old thinks you are.  You will be just right.  God will give you what you need if you will go to God in prayer, in Bible study, in worship.  You will find a way. 

        Every child is home schooled.  Commit to communicate.  Encouragement is essential.  Let’s take up the challenge of this new school year.  The year stands before us as an open door.  What will we find on the other side?  Will it hold success, joy, and good times?  Or will it bring sadness, failure, and crisis?  I often have people ask me what I think the future holds.  Listen.  The future holds what we place there.  Our decisions and actions and words will create the future.  What we decide to do will become this new school year.  I pray that you will make it a great new year.  Amen.