A prayer for a new season

The beginning of a new school year, feels like the beginning of a new year for me. Summer somehow creates a break in the year and in September we get a fresh start. It is a new season.

So whether you are a student going back to school, or starting school for the first time (how exciting!), or a parent sending your little or big kid off, or perhaps you are an educator, or perhaps none of the above but you, like me, embrace this season as a fresh start…. This prayer is for you!

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the gift of a new school year, a new season, a fresh start filled with new opportunities. Our hearts are full of hope and gratitude, and we look forward to the possibilities that lie ahead.

We pray for all the students who are now entering their second week of this journey, for their teachers, and for all the staff who will guide and support them. Grant them wisdom, patience, and a deep sense of purpose in their work.

Lord, bless the classrooms with an atmosphere of respect, kindness, and inclusion. May every student feel valued and cherished for who they are, and may they find joy in both their studies and their relationships.

For us all, we pray for good health, both physically and mentally, so that we may have the strength and energy to face whatever challenges come our way. Grant us resilience in times of adversity and the ability to find joy and contentment in the simple moments of life. We place our trust in you, knowing that you are always with us. Strengthen our faith, give us courage in the face of difficulties, and help us to persevere.

Lord, we also remember those who are less fortunate and may struggle. May we reach out to them with love and support, offering a helping hand when needed. Help us to understand what it means to be the church and to live that out.

Be with us all, dear Lord, in our various stages of life.

We offer this prayer in your name, Lord, trusting in your love and grace. May this new season be a time of growth, learning, and meaningful experiences for all.

Amen.

A lit path

Remember back in the day when you needed directions to a new place or were planning a route somewhere you would pull out a paper map? Or remember when you could buy a book of road maps for a particular area?  We would leave our big book of maps for Toronto in the car so that we could pull over - flip the pages - and find out what side street to take?

Can you imagine?  A paper map?

Today you pull out your phone and press the Google maps app and you can get a map of anywhere, literally anywhere in the world!  Not only that it will talk you through the directions so you actually don’t ever have to read a map at all! I have become so dependent on Google maps for almost every excursion because it even warns me about slow downs on my regularly traveled roads and will suggest alternative routes.

Shouldn’t the Word of God be that way too?

The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

The Word of God is like a map.  It guides and directs us on the right path we should take. The Word of God throws a light onto the path that we should travel and even warns us about the “slow downs” or difficulties ahead.

As dependent as I am on Google maps I need to be even more dependent on God’s word to know where God wants me to go and how to get there. I need only to pull out my phone, press the Bible app to get comfort, direction, guidance and constant reminders of God’s love for me in a dark world.

During the month of August I will be away on vacation. We have a great number of amazing speakers planned. As I step back for a few weeks my desire will be to spend time in God’s Word as I prepare for the fall at Amberlea because, I know and I believe that God’s word is a lamp for our feet and a light on our path. May your path be illuminated!

Happy August to you all!

Perfect Peace

Have you every found yourself wound up about something? Perhaps someone said something to you that had you stewing for days? Or perhaps you looked at your bank account and a sudden rush of panic came over you as you realized that you are faced with another month of figuring out how to make ends meet. And you worry.

Our minds are powerful and the thoughts we think actually can effect our state of being.

Look at what the Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.”

Peace is something we need desperately right now and the Bible has so much to say about it. Peace is mentioned hundreds of times but nowhere is it found more than in the book of Isaiah. And furthermore, it is the only reference in the bible to perfect peace.

Doesn’t the sound of perfect peace sound brilliant?

So, how do we find it?

Do we find our peace in which politician is voted into office? Or how much money is in our bank account? Or our relationship status? Or is our peace determined by the One who is in control of it all?

This perfect peace is accessible to you and me if our minds and hearts are fixed on God.   

For context, when Isaiah was writing this he was writing it to God’s people who were being severely oppressed by their enemies and yet they were able to tap into this perfect peace because their minds were steadfast —their minds and thoughts were fixed — on God.  We can do that too!

I know it is challenging right now, there is so much going on in our lives and in the world but I want to encourage you that this perfect peace  —not just peace but perfect peace — is available to you and me if we keep our minds and thoughts not fixed on the things of this world but rather fixed on God!