By Pastor “Doc” Doug Stauffer
August brings the annual migration of parents and children into crowded store aisles in search of school supplies. Somewhere, a teacher has requested seventeen glue sticks, four folders in colors that apparently do not exist, and a box of tissues large enough to handle every runny nose in Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties.
Parents carefully purchase pencils, notebooks, lunch boxes, school clothes, and backpacks that may cost more than the first car they purchased. Everything is labeled, organized, and ready. At least it is ready until the second day of school, when one child has already lost a water bottle, broken three pencils, and forgotten where the homework folder goes.
We spend considerable time preparing what our children will carry into the classroom. However, we should also consider what they will carry in their hearts into the classroom.
Before you pack the backpack, pack some prayer.
Pray with your children before they leave home. Let them hear you ask God to protect them, guide them, help them make wise choices, and give them strength to do what is right. A child may forget where he put his lunch money, but he should never forget that someone at home is praying for him.
Before you pack the backpack, give them confidence.
Children need to know that their worth is NOT determined by their grades, athletic ability, popularity, clothing, or number of friends. There will always be someone who runs faster, reads better, dresses differently, or seems to receive more attention. Teach your children to work hard without measuring their value by someone else’s accomplishments or appearance.
Before you pack the backpack, include kindness.
Schools are filled with children who are carrying burdens no one can see. Some are lonely. Some are frightened. Some come from troubled homes. Some may eat lunch alone while pretending it does not bother them when it really hurts.
Teach your child to notice the student who is overlooked. Encourage him to invite someone to sit nearby, offer a kind word, or defend a classmate who is being mistreated. Kindness does not require money, popularity, or exceptional ability. It only requires someone willing to care.
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Before you pack the backpack, add courage.
Our children will face pressure to follow the crowd, laugh at what is wrong, remain silent when someone is mistreated, and accept ideas simply because everyone else appears to accept them. They need courage to stand alone when necessary.
Courage does not mean being rude, argumentative, or disrespectful. Biblical courage is the strength to remain kind while refusing to compromise what is right.
Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Finally, before you pack the backpack, teach them the difference between right and wrong.
Children need more than information. They need wisdom. A student may learn mathematics, science, history, and technology, yet still be unprepared for life if he has never learned honesty, responsibility, self-control, respect, and a true reverence for God Almighty.
Schools have an important responsibility, but parents must never surrender their God-given role to anyone. The home should be the most influential classroom. It may sound cliché but children learn more from what they see than what we tell them.
They notice how we speak when we are frustrated. They watch how we treat people who obviously unable to reciprocate. They observe whether our faith is merely something we put on full display on Sunday or something we live every day.
Soon, children throughout our community will walk into classrooms carrying backpacks filled with supplies. Let us make sure they are also carrying prayer, confidence, kindness, courage, and a clear understanding of right and wrong.
And parents, you may also want to pack an extra pencil. By lunchtime, the first one will probably be missing, broken or given away.
