The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.” – 1 Samuel; 3:10-11

The Lord came and stood there, calling "David!" "Beks!" "Geoffrey!" "Mr. T.!" 
Then the children said, "Speak, for your servants are listening." 
And the Lord said to the children: "I am about to do something in this world that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle... and my plans involve you." 

Over the past two years my most widely read posts have been: 1) “A letter to my grandson on his first week at school,” and 2) “An open letter to our grandson, heading to Middle School.”

Yesterday, and this has kind of crept up on me, that same grandchild – David – entered the 8th grade. His siblings – Beks and Geoffrey – started 7th grade and VPK respectively. Shortly, over in Poland, Mr. T. will be heading into “Year One.”

So here we go, another “Back to School” letter from your Granddaddy Derek.

DAVID: I love you more than you could ever know. I don’t think I have ever met a finer young man. Kind, polite, gentle-spirited, imaginative, deeply intelligent, resourceful. But also fun-loving, playful, funny, adventurous and more. You are at the age now where so much is going on and there are so many distractions vying for your attention.

Certain parts of your brain and your emotions and your physical self are currently hot-wired to light up and demand attention beyond anything you have been prepared for, so it will be difficult for you to consistently make great choices. But you are going to have to make great choices anyway, because the older you get the more the decisions – and their consequences – belong to you, so be wise.

At the same time, I want you to have fun this year, and don’t be afraid to be silly, or to ask hard questions, or to color outside of the lines a little. Just be aware that the qualities that helped you succeed this far still need to be your guiding light – especially the kindness and the politeness and the inquisitive mind and the gentle spirit. Even when other people are not so kind or polite or full with grace – especially then.

BEKS: Hey girl! do you know what it is that makes you even more beautiful than those runway models and influencers and actors and TikTok make-up people? It’s the spirit of goodness and care and love you have, that runs so deep and so true in the background. There’s beauty on the surface (you have that and to spare) and then there is what you have going on below the surface. You have beauty and class on every level and then some!

Also very much “ditto” David’s second paragraph, the one that begins, “Certain parts of your brain and your emotions and your physical self are currently hot-wired to light up and demand attention…” I wrote that for both of you.

I can’t wait to see what happens with your music, with your writing, and with your brilliant brain this year! Just stay grounded in the light and the goodness and the care.

GEOFFREY: I cannot believe that our youngest grandson is heading to pre-K already. You are a force of nature, an explosion of energy, a fountain of fun and a whole boatload of love.

Nothing, Geoffrey, can contain you. So my prayer is that you learn to listen and to explore and to share with new friends and to take in the beautiful and wild world around you (and if anyone ever looked like he could turn out to be the next Crocodile Hunter – Steve Irwin – then it is you!).

This world needs your energy and your passion for life, Geoffrey. So try to settle into school and learn as much as you can before you go out there into the wild world and make things happen!

MR. T.: You just had your 6th birthday and now you are ready for “Year One” in Krakow, Poland. You are a builder, and an artist, and a budding engineer and so full with light and imagination your parents are breathless just trying to keep up.

I pray that you are captivated in wonder at all there is to learn this year at school, that you have so much fun you want to be a teacher too, that you make friends who are kind and inviting, and that you wake up every morning with love and light in your heart along with anticipation for the coming day.

All of you:

David, Beks, Geoffrey and Mr. T., gather round and listen closely. We love you. We think that your mama and your daddy got something so right and so special when they helped make you.

But listen. You are also children of God. You are unique and special creations and you were imagined, designed, created and gifted to this good Earth for a reason. We want you all to get to know God better – like Samuel in the Bible reading – and to explore what God has in mind in and through your lives.

Good grief we have awesome grandchildren! In love, and because love called all of us into being – your Grandaddy Derek