a blessing for the start of a new school year

The year is tilting
toward the start of school again,
but truth be told,
we’re not ready.

We’re still hanging on to summer,
to the promise it held
for long-awaited connections and celebrations,
for refreshment for our bodies and souls
in water and sky and color and sunlight,
and all those little moments given to us
where we could linger just a little longer.

Now that it’s almost over,
we don’t want to let it go.
The beauty. The freedom. All that was life-giving.

God, could you help us stretch it, extend it,
and maybe even blend it
into this coming school year?

Parents, students, teachers, all,
may your newly-structured days
breathe with creativity,
your new duties be infused with delight.

As you write on those fresh new calendars
may you trust that your plans are a lot like magic ink.

Much may seem to disappear into obscurity,
but whatever is done in love will remain.