“When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them question”

If you are looking for a child or teenager, this is where you will find them these days, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions.We sent our 2nd grader off to school complete with new backpack, lunchbox, and shoes yesterday. We took the requisite picture at the door and in front of the school sign to mark this joyous occasion. One of the wonderful things about social media is you get to share in back to school pictures of friends and acquaintances both near and far.

I may be taking a leap here, but everyone is excited about the first day of school. You could feel it in the air. Everything is in front of you- students excited that the slate is wiped clean and straight A’s are on the table, teachers hoping beyond hope that they finally will get the perfect class. Everyone loves the first day of school.

It’s the second day that gets you. Our 2nd grader, the one who loved the first day, woke up this morning with “I don’t want to go to school.” “Well, you only have at least 14 more years or so of doing this, so get used to it.” Maybe not the best parental response, but true.

There’s a lesson here for life: Life can be a slog sometimes. If you are a follower of Jesus, that slog can be even greater because you are trying to make it through the day and follow Jesus all at the same time The second day is never as easy as the first. I didn’t see any second of school pictures this morning. I suspect we won’t be taking tenth day of school pictures. But, there is hope.

All of that possibility we hold on the first day, it’s there the whole time. It’s present on the second day, third and thirty-third. We just need to see it. We need to learn to see with the same heart and mind with which we view the first day. We allow the lens through which we see to become clouded, so much so that we cannot see that which is truly there.

That’s my hope and prayer for my own student and all students, teachers, and administrators this year. That their lens is always clear enough to see back to the first day and to know the hope, possibility, and wonder that is theirs. That they know no matter what, they know that God is with them through all of it.

Despite the initial protest, we made it to school this morning. Ready to take on day two.