As the start of school approaches, the signs can be seen everywhere…trees stressed by a lack of consistent rainfall are beginning to shed their leaves. Back-to-School clothing sales abound. Kids are reconnecting with school friends and comparing class schedules. And the piles of supplies filling up my kids’ bedrooms are evidenced by bags filled with new jeans, shoes and backpacks. Others contain notebook paper, composition books, pens and pencils. The collection of items associated with our collegian are the grandest this year—for she is moving into her first apartment and I am happily passing on kitchen and household items I’ve been collecting for months.

I think, however, it is the energy surrounding the start of school that I most enjoy—even now that I am grown up. When I was a child, joy was never a part of the first day. Instead it was a day filled with excitement and nervousness. I would battle to control great surges of energy and find it nearly impossible to settle myself down, tossing and turning the night before in bed as my legs wiggled and my mind wrestled with those great challenges of childhood: What should I wear? Would my teacher like me? Who would be in my class?

Where do those of us, whose school days are but a memory, fit into this picture of exciting new beginnings? Of great hopes and budding new dreams? Of new friendships and accelerated learning?

I have a gameplan for the start of this school year—a framework for the next few months that incorporates God at every turn. Encouragement, day by day. Experiences, intended to seek and serve and share God with family and friends.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” so many of us have heard from church pulpits. It sounds pious, grandiose and not every exciting. But seeking God with energy, purpose, and intension is Step One and can be done in the privacy of your own heart. It can begin by opening up your Bible and talking with a friend who experiences God on a regular basis.

It can also begin with quiet prayers that begin, “I want to see you move in my life, Lord. I want to know how you fit into all that is my life. I want to know how you can provide me with the courage and strength to press on–to discover peace and ways to love those around me even better than I do today.” God can handle anything you have. Most of all, He wants you to seek Him.

Step Two is serving and may involve volunteering. At church. At a school. At a retirement or youth center. Perhaps a neighbor can use your help with a project. Perhaps you have skills needed to help rebuild the infrastructures and community areas destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. If the idea of adding one more activity to your schedule seems daunting, just remember that service must also live at home, for serving those we love and are most responsible for also serves God.

Our best efforts honor God in all ways. And when we create a heart for serving those around us, the face of God will appear. Joy will increase. Fulfillment and miracles will abound.

Step Three in my plan involves sharing my faith and the most powerful way is to model it. Let us not talk of forgiveness; let’s get about the business of forgiving. Let’s not speak of faithfulness, let’s be consistent and faithful to those with whom we live and work. May we promise to pray for someone and actually do it. Let’s roll up our sleeves and walk the talk. Only then can we confirm that God is working and loving us on a daily basis.

The “Three S’s—Seeking, Serving, and Sharing—is the motto for me as I head into another school year. I wonder what God will do if we seek and serve and share as a community?

Joan Bay Klope is a freelance Christian writer and makes her home on Whidbey Island. Her award-winning column has run for 11 years in newspapers throughout Western Washington. You may contact her at jbklope@hotmail.com.