God of endings, beginnings and every place in between,
We may not be sure of the day of the week or even the time,
but we know we have an unending list of tasks to complete.
The tasks keep adding up while sleep diminishes.
It seems like just yesterday we were measuring time
by how many worms we found while digging in the garden,
by the number of pages we read in a new book,
or by the swimsuits laid out to dry after a great weekend at the lake.
How did the school year creep in so quickly?
We are not ready to trade our garden gloves
for “real” pants and shoes.
We are not ready to give up late-night movies in the backyard
for evenings of flashcards and science projects.
Help us, O God, hold on to the whimsy and joy of summer
as we enter a new school year and a new season.
May we continue to dig in the dirt —
to grow, to create and to tend to our souls.
May we sit in awe of the lessons we learn within classroom walls,
just as we sat in wonder beneath the stars this summer.
May we remember to be kind to one another in the lunchroom,
as we were to the inhabitants of our vegetable gardens,
finding ways to coexist and flourish together.
God, in a world that measures time
by the seconds on a clock
and the meetings on a calendar,
remind us that your time is not so regimented.
Help us carry with us the lessons we learned this summer,
in its slower pace and gentler rhythms.
May we enter the fall and the new school year with grace,
knowing that while summer is coming to an end,
its gifts remain with us.
And may we weave those gifts
into all that we will learn, discover and become
in the season ahead.
Amen.
