August marks the back to school season.  Retailers have been promoting their school supplies since just after the July 4th holiday.  Back to school can mean so many different things for so many different ages. Young children are wondering what it will be like to be in school all day and recent high school graduates may be preparing to live away from home for the first time.  Parents might be starting school themselves while helping their children manage their excitement and nerves.

School has always been a good experience for me so it is no surprise that I work at a school.  However, whenever stress manifests in one of my dreams, the setting is undoubtedly school.  I forgot to go to class.  I didn’t get my work done. As I am preparing for my graduation celebration, I am told that I am not close to earning a degree.

These images from my dreams came to mind as I pray with the parable of the king’s wedding feast in today’s gospel from Matthew.  In the telling of this parable to the elders and chief priests, Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast.  Invited guests do not come and when urged a second time to attend, act poorly by turning back to their own interests or attacking those who were delivering the invitation.  The king opens the feast to anyone who his servants can find… “good and bad” alike.  And yet when one of these spontaneous guests is not in wedding garments, they are cast out.  This could be new material for my stress dreams.

Rather than focusing on worrying if I have the metaphorical right garments to enter the kingdom of heaven, I choose to ask God for insights.  I immediately hear Psalm 95:  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  The encouraging words from today’s first reading from Ezekiel: I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts invite me to desire a “natural” heart to welcome God’s voice.

The invitation to hear God’s voice puts my overloaded back to school list of tasks in perspective.  I am reminded of why I am called to teach and pray for the grace for my teaching to serve the kingdom of God.  This fall when I encounter a nervous student, I pray that I hear the voice of God in that nervousness and show the compassion the student needs.  I pray for those who want nothing more than to go to school, but yet are not allowed.  When I wonder if a lesson I prepared is clever enough, I ask God to remind me to keep my ego in check so I can truly serve.   And I pray as we enter this season of back to school, we all learn to always hear God’s voice.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.