The week has finally arrived. Some dread it. Some are excited about it. It’s time for our students, teachers, staff and administrators to head back to school. Because school starts at different times in different places, I have already seen people sharing their first day of school pictures for the last week and a half. In our church family some of us will be taking the first day of school picture for the first time as a child heads off to preschool or kindergarten. Some families like ours will be taking the last first day of school picture for a child starting his senior year. For many of our families, those pictures are just wonderful memories. Like the song says, “Time is filled with swift transition.”

 

There are lots of reasons to get excited about the first day of school. We get to see friends after the summer break. The rhythm of having a schedule returns. There are more things to learn, sports to play, instruments to master and projects to be done. And wouldn’t many of us who have finished school welcome recess or naptime back into our daily schedules?

 

One of the best things about the return to school is the opportunity for a fresh start. If the last school year did not end the way we hoped, we can change that beginning this week. We can get up earlier, study harder, be more organized, listen better and make new friends. One of the amazing things God created us with is the ability to change and better ourselves. Who we surround ourselves with has an impact on how this year will go. What can we do to make this school year better than the last one?

 

Dan Williams, Vice President for Church Relations at Harding University, believes the answer to that question is found in four principles about how we choose friends in Proverbs 1:10-19.

 

 

Brian