As our school year has drawn to a close this year, I find myself preparing for next year.  There is something fun about picking out curriculum and creating a planner.  Organizing our “education room” for the coming year (also known as our dinning room) and putting away the keepsakes from the year that has just ended.  But getting ready for the new year is more than physically being prepared, it is also about being mentally prepared.  For me that is seeking God and growing in my relationship with Him so that I can better guide my children to become images of God.

When our math curriculum was delivered I found myself giving a small leap for joy (I am sure my next door neighbor, whom I was talking with, thought I was nuts!)  But I couldn’t help it.  It was a reflex.  I get excited about what is coming and how God is directing our life.

And you know what?  My children do too.  The excitement seems to spread to everyone in the house.  My boys were begging to start math the day it arrived!  It does help that they enjoy their math, but the excitement is over more than just math.  They want to start our new education year.  They want to do work around the house, to be helpers, to be useful.

I find that my attitude affects them in everything from cleaning to homework to what clothes they choose to wear.  If I am sluggish to do the things I know to be right, then my children will be too.  If I joyfully obey the One I serve, my children follow.  I am by no means perfect.  I fail to have a joyful attitude more times than I want to think about.  Sometimes, I am simply a slug.  A slimy, slow creature that no one wants to be around, least of all me.  But Colossians 4 tells me how to get rid of the slug; reminding me to keep alert and devote myself to thankful prayer and  to use wisdom and gracious speech with others.  Sprinkling my words with grace is like using salt on myself.  The slim melts away and I am left with the new creature God has created in me.

So, what about you?  Are you a joy or a slug?

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;  praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.  Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.  Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

Colossians 4:2-6