Back to School again :)

It’s the first day of a new school term for the sproglets in our house. Mr Tall had to pump up the tyres on his bike, having only just thought to check. He couldn’t find the pump. Cue Dad getting out the electric pump for car tyres.

Little Miss Splosh only just thought to ask me to check how much money she had on her lunch account (paid online). Cue Dad trying to find out on the over-busy website that was not allowing people to process payments because it was too busy.

There’s nothing like being well-prepared. And this was nothing like being well-prepared.

There always used to be something special for me about going back to school. It was not that I especially enjoyed school. (It wasn’t bad except when I was being bullied.) What I like was that it was likely that I had something new – clothes, equipment, school bag… – and there was the sense of going into the unknown as I would not know who would be my new form tutor, which would be my form room, who would be teaching my subjects, what the timetable looked like…

I still get that sense of excitement about new things. It’s great opening the pages of a new book. I love putting new cartridges in my pen or printer. I enjoy setting up computers for the first time. I love trying out magic tricks for the first time (especially when they work).

So I say, “My splendour is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.” I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
(Lam 3:18-24)

God is always doing new things in our lives. Fresh starts. Forgiveness. New opportunities to be a free sample of Jesus. New things to know about him. More to experience of him. May I have the same sense of excitement about those new things as I have about trivial stuff.

A secondary school for girls was faced with a unique problem. A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirrors leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Finally the Head Teacher decided that something had to be done. She called several of the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the caretaker. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the caretaker who had to clean the mirrors every day.

To demonstrate how much work they were making for the caretaker, she asked him to clean one of the mirrors while the girls watched.

The caretaker took a long-handled brush, dipped it into the nearest toilet, and proceeded to scrub the mirror.

From that day on, the problem of lip prints on the mirrors was completely eliminated.