New Starts

Once a teacher, always a teacher. No matter how long it’s been, my heart races, my optimism soars, whenever September draws near. There’s something about a new school year that makes me profoundly grateful, even if I’m no longer headed to a classroom. Beyond the parents lumbering down the aisle with arms full of school supplies and children begging for the newest sneakers, is a joy that beckons me, once again.

It’s the promise of a new start, and it’s there for us all.

I can still remember going into my classroom early, cleaning the board, organizing my desk drawers, and throwing away the debris from the year before. I’d try to learn the names of the new students as I wrote their names in the gradebook then plan the year ahead as if I’d never taught before. More than all this planning, though, was the gift of being able to start over. I’m not sure if there’s a greater gift.

Like all gifts, though, it needs to be received and opened. There are those who refuse the gift because they are convinced new starts are only for the young. There are also those who allow others to determine whether they deserve a new start or not. It makes me sad to think about it. Life loses its pixie dust when I think of life as one long continuous line instead of the collection of new chapters in a one-of-a-kind novel.

Whether as a mother or father, daughter or son, business executive or stay-at-home parent, this could be the start of a new year. Whether as a company, church, school, or team, this is a chance to try again. Like the countless teachers across the country who are wiping away the markings from lessons past on their white boards, it’s time for us to do the same. What’s past is past. It’s time to start over. Thanks be to God, who extends this gift of a new start today, and always.