Can you feel it?
Summer isn’t officially over, but something is changing. The days are still hot enough for swimming pools and backyard cookouts, yet the calendar is reminding us that school is just around the corner.
A new season is beginning.
Teachers are getting their classrooms ready. Students are preparing to trade late mornings for alarm clocks. Parents are checking supply lists, buying clothes and shoes, and trying to stretch the budget just a little farther. Sales tax holidays help, but somehow there always seems to be one more thing on the list.
Back-to-school season is exciting…and exhausting.
Then comes open house.
The hallways fill with nervous parents, excited children, and teachers who are smiling even though they’ve been working for days to get everything ready. Parents are quietly sizing up the teacher. Teachers are getting their first glimpse of the students they’ll spend the next nine months with. And somewhere in the middle of it all, each child is wondering, Will my teacher like me?
My husband has been teaching fifth-grade math for many years, so I’ve watched this routine play out over and over again.
Every August, he heads back to school to prepare his classroom. Everything has its place. The desks are arranged. The bulletin boards are finished. Lessons are planned. Then he looks over his class roster.
Some names make him smile because he already knows the family. Others are complete strangers.
No matter who walks through his classroom door, though, his goal is always the same—to be consistent.
If students attended fourth grade in his school, they’ve probably already heard about Mr. Martin. Teachers have reputations, and word travels fast among students!
As I was thinking about all of this, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus.
Luke tells us:
“It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.'” (Luke 11:1)
Those five words caught my attention.
“Lord, teach us to pray…”
Jesus had a reputation too.
People didn’t follow Him because He had the nicest classroom or the latest teaching materials. His disciples didn’t carry backpacks filled with supplies. In fact, when Jesus sent them out, He told them to take very little with them.
What they needed most couldn’t be bought in a store.
They needed willing hearts.
Jesus taught as He lived. His classroom was wherever people happened to be—along dusty roads, around dinner tables, beside fishing boats, on mountainsides, and in quiet gardens. He didn’t just talk about truth; He lived it every single day.
People watched Him before they listened to Him.
His compassion taught. His obedience taught. Even His prayers taught.
That’s what prompted the disciples to ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They had seen something in Jesus that they wanted for themselves.
Of course, just like any classroom today, not everyone stayed.
Some people became devoted followers. Others decided His teaching was too difficult and walked away. Jesus never changed His message to make it easier to accept. He simply continued teaching those who were willing to learn.
As another school year begins, I’m thankful for faithful teachers who pour into the lives of children every day. They do far more than teach math, reading, or science. They encourage, correct, listen, and help shape the next generation.
But I’m even more thankful for the greatest Teacher who ever lived.
No matter our age, we’re all still His students.
And maybe that’s the best prayer we can pray as we begin a new season:
“Lord, teach us.”
