As the school year ends, there are students who are being invited to honors and awards ceremonies to recognize what they’ve accomplished. Many would view these students as successful. There are also students those who are signing up for summer school; those who failed classes or barely scraped by. Many would view these students as having failed. I think the measures of success and failure are a little harder to pin down than that. What if we measured success by giving it your all, rather than by what awards were won? What if we measured failure by not trying at all, rather than by not meeting someone else’s standards?

The end of the school year is a time when children, and all of us, can be reminded of our successes and failures. We look back with pride on the moments we feel we gave our all and we look back wishing we could get do-overs for the moments we didn’t try at all. I don’t know about you, but I hate having failure on my record. Even if no one knows about it but me, I want to do the work again to prove to myself that I can give it my all.

Success and failure and reflecting on the school year past give many opportunities for faith talks in your family. Here’s a few ideas to get you started, but you can talk about faith anytime, anywhere as Deuteronomy 6:5-7 reminds us to talk about the things of God “as you sit at home, as you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.”

• Report Cards-Regardless of what grades your children earned on their report cards, they indicate a season of the year coming to a close; a term ending. Though our school work is graded, our faith is not. Talk about how we get our faith, how our faith grows, and what role we have in what our faith looks like.
• Yearbooks-A picture book of the school year that captures memories can be a fun way to capture a little bit of history that you were a part of. It’s important to remember things that happen in our lives. How does the Bible capture real history within it’s pages? Why is it important to have that record of history?
• Move Up-Typically the end of a year means children are moving up a grade. There is much excitement and anticipation surrounding this event. What are some examples from the Bible that people felt great excitement or anticipation? Why? What can we learn from these examples?
• Say Goodbyes-Every year ends with several goodbyes—mostly to people in our class and our teachers—but also to a stage of life. Talk about some easy goodbyes and difficult goodbyes in life. Goodbyes are a precursor (almost always) to hellos. What are some hellos you look forward to because of other goodbyes? How is this like our earthly goodbyes and heavenly hellos will be some day?

What other opportunities for faith talks is God giving your family?