Five of the seven nieces and nephews are already back to school this week. One starts middle school (ugh) and the other four are in various grades in elementary. The two toddlers are home I'm sure loving the extra time and attention.
It's days like these that I wish I were just a short drive away to be able to see them go and watch them come home with all the excitement a new school year brings. The new kids, the changes to the school, how the new teacher is...all the brushstrokes that help paint what the new year is going to look like. Each subsequent day adds joys and frustrations until another year is gone with new memories and lessons learned.
I hope they know that even though I'm far away, I do think of them and more importantly pray for them. I pray for their success. I pray they won't have problems and if they do have problems, I pray they can endure and be made stronger. I pray they can find and keep good friends. I pray for their physical and spiritual well being.
One of my favorite scriptures is from Luke 2:52. It's the only scripture that really talks about Christ from the time he was a young boy in the temple until He began His ministry. In one succinct verse, we can find the foundation for our lives.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
My sweet nieces and nephews - here is my prayer for each of you using these same four principles:
Lord, please help them to continuously increase in wisdom
- Study hard and well - school is your job. If you do your job well today, you'll likely ensure a better job when you are actually paid.
- Learn not just for today, but in a way that you'll remember things in the future.
- Grades are important as excellence can give you opportunities, but grades are based on a measurement that is sometimes unfair. Do your very best - that's all we can ask.
- But, with all that - wisdom means stopping once in a while for re-creation. So take time to have fun. You'll likely not remember what you studied for the test, but will remember a special night with friends.
- Learn from others - both good and bad. Sometimes the best lessons you can learn is by watching how NOT to do something.
- Listen to your elders. They are smarter than they look (especially me)!
- Try new things whenever you have an opportunity - sports, art, music, food. You probably won't be very good or love everything, but trying it you'll know what you love, what you appreciate that someone else can do well (even if you can't), and know what you just don't like. Being well-rounded is becoming less of a skill in a world that is expecting you to specialize at 12 years old.
- Keep a scrapbook and write things down - the shortest pencil is better than the best memory.
- Wisdom and knowledge are different things. Wisdom is how you apply that knowledge to your life. Knowing something and living the something make all the difference in your character.
Lord, please bless them that they will increase in stature (but not too quickly, they are still my babies...)
- Your body is truly a temple. You wouldn't pollute the inside or outside of the temple with junk - the same applies to your body.
- It's important to get enough sleep, eat right and get exercise (that goes for me too). Not so you can look good, but so that you can feel good and never limit yourself in what you are able to do.
- Learn the rules of sports and even try to play a few of them. One of my greatest gifts in maneuvering the male-dominated business world is that I understand most sports and can have a conversation with a group of guys about it.
- Don't grow up too fast - once you start wearing makeup, press your jeans, spend hours on your hair - you can't go back and the maintenance stinks.
- What you wear really is important - but not in the "I need $150 pair of jeans to look good" kind of way. You are judged by how you are dressed. So always dress appropriately for the occasion and dress your body respectfully.
- Use sunscreen - seriously - use sunscreen. I don't want any of you getting cancer when you could have avoided it with a five minute process.
Lord, please help them increase in favor with Thee
- I believe like all good parents God is most happy when all of His children are happy. The greatest lessons you'll ever learn and joys you will ever have probably begin when you helped someone else
- God never moves, but we usually do. He listens, He loves, He cares - even when we make mistakes. He's there when you are in a hotel room a thousand miles from home, in a tent in the mountains, in a place you shouldn't be, even in the car driving home from a bad day from work. Just open your mouth and your heart.
- Despite what people tell you and even the lessons in church, it isn't always easy to choose the right and good things don't always happen when you make the right choice. You may get an F when the cheaters get the A; if you wait until your sixteen and miss the prom, all the disobedient fifteen year olds won't die like in Carrie. But God makes up for it in ways you don't realize until much later.
- Take in the gospel messages where you can - the scriptures, church, family home evenings, etc. It may all honestly start to sound the same - and the messages don't change a whole lot even when you are my age. But, the times when things are darkest, one of those simple things you learned will ignite the room.
- Sometimes things just don't make sense - but trust that gut or that little voice that has more wisdom than you do.
- There are times God really doesn't care what choice you make when it's not vital to your eternal salvation. It doesn't mean He doesn't listen or care about you - He just knows you are smart enough to make your own decisions.
Lord, give them the opportunities to increase in favor with men
- You'll likely have very few true friends in life - if you do, treasure those people. Even the most popular people at school probably have many acquaintances, but only a handful of people they can be fun and honest with.
- Finding good friends and being a good friend are two very important skills. The second is more important; if you master that, the first will come naturally.
- The most important people to be kind to are usually the hardest - your family. But they are nearly always the ones that will be there when everyone else is gone.
- Say "Please" and "Thank You" - it goes a long way and is vital even when you are an adult
- Smile at everyone - the scared new kid at school, the angry clerk at the store, the frustrated teacher. Nearly everyone is hurting from something these days. A simple smile lets them know the world is still a decent place
- You can become an instant hero by opening doors for people - especially seniors and those with heavy packages in their hands.
- In this day of anonymous communication, it still hurts when you make fun of someone or use unkind words - even if you don't know who they are. Be kind even in random chat rooms.
- Listen. We all have so much to say, but we learn more when we close our mouths.
I love you so much and want you to be the very best children, brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends, cousins, grandchildren, students, nieces and nephews you can be. Know that your Aunt Heather thinks and prays for you all the time in faraway places at strange times.
