"Releasing the separate one is a difficult knot. Finding yourself is something only you can do. Imagine yourself coming back 10 years from today through time, to help you where you must now be." Jim Cohn

And so it begins. Labor day is past and school begins today for most students. Another year of learning…both academic and life lessons….is ahead.  It is a day of possibility, of hope, of promise. It is a day that always fills me with great emotion.

A few weeks ago I was reading an article in the Sports section of the Star Tribune. It was the overview of high school sports with the statement…."every team begins the season undefeated." It was a great image. Every team, no matter the record of last year, no matter the size of the school, the skills of the players, begins the season undefeated.…the promise of becoming a team of winners is, at least for a moment in time, within their reach.

Our younger son has just left for the first day of school which is, at his high school, a day for freshman only. He is a junior and will participate in a wonderful mentoring program that welcomes those youngest to school, helping them find their way around the building, eating lunch with them on their first day, answering their questions, and assuring that, at least one person, knows their name. These fragile teenagers will be welcomed into the school by smiling faces, applauding them as they enter the school, traveling through a tunnel of well-wishers, calling out after them as if they were rock stars.

Many will arrive feeling nervous, anxious, overwhelmed, unsure of so many things….what they are wearing, who their friends will be, what is safe, the languages spoken around them.Others will arrive already bored by the prospect of classes they have no interest in and see no reason for. Still others will arrive excited at this new step along what has been a successful school career, sure of their academic abilities, provided with all the resources, financial and human, they could possibly need. This is a snapshot of public school.

In the sports world,everyone begins the season undefeated. In the academic world, we know this is not true. Many students come to school without breakfast, with limited sleep, without the supplies they need, without the support and nurture of the adults in their lives. They are already hounded by their past failures…their inability to read well, learning disabilities, behavior issues….so many things that can cause them to begin the new year defeated.

If I could I would send a blessing to each and every student today, from kindergarten through college, that they might begin this season of school undefeated. I would hover over every bus stop, in every carpool, at the door of every school and pray words of protection and inspiration, of hope and creativity, of belonging and being known. I would swoop down and whisper in their ear, "Remember, you are marvelous!" because you are a child of God.

I invite you to join with me in this prayer…..as you pass schools today simply extend a blessing toward the students and teachers inside that they may begin this season undefeated. Who knows, if we all join together, our collective and blessing and energy might help create a championship season.

"One day we will see God the Almighty, the Creator in every child and perhaps discipline the child as we wish to be disciplined…and forgive the child as we wish to be forgiven…and love the child as we wish to be loved…and uplift the child as we wish to be uplifted…and teach the child as we wish to be taught. For one day we will understand, we will know the Child is God recreated and God is the Child manifested in flesh. One day we will see God the Magnificent, the Beautiful, in every child."  Sonsyrea Tate