Everyday Prayers for the School YearSample

May They Be Diligent

When I began second grade, I couldn’t read well.

It wasn’t because my mom hadn’t read to me enough when I was little. She had. It wasn’t because I wasn’t smart enough. I was…though applying myself was another matter. The problem seemed to be that I didn’t learn how my previous school taught reading. Good ol’ Dick and Jane books didn’t do the job.

That school year, I went to the reading lab each week. My reading teacher used fun games and encouraged me. Even though I was behind, I don’t remember ever being embarrassed or ashamed. I worked hard at learning to read, and by the time I entered third grade, I’d caught up with my classmates.

Quickly, reading became a refuge instead of a hindrance. By sixth grade, I was the kid on the playground swing who read while the other kids raced around the schoolyard.

So when my son struggled with reading in first grade, I was determined to dig in and help him. We practiced and made it fun the whole school year as we sat for thirty minutes each morning in the car line after dropping off his brother. By the end of the school year, he was mostly caught up. He went to the reading specialist, as I did as a kid, and we practiced a little each day.

We see this kind of diligence in the story of Noah. (See Genesis 6:13–22.) Can you imagine being handed the task of building a boat that was almost one and a half football fields long and over four stories tall, all without modern equipment? If Noah had tried to build it quickly, he would have burnt out. Instead, he diligently worked on it for between fifty and seventy years, a task that took daily persistence.

If your child is struggling with being diligent in school—which happens with most children at one time or another—give them grace.

School is hard. Learning is hard. Some of us struggle more than others, but there is always hope. My son and I didn’t become better readers overnight, but we had teachers and family members who worked with us and encouraged us to keep going.

Pray that your children apply themselves this school year and be diligent. God can do a lot with our little.