Chalk, Prayer Circles, and Jesus

My oldest has officially launched. We took her to college. And you guys...it was actually wonderful.

I know I’m probably supposed to tell you that I sobbed uncontrollably in the parking lot, clung to the back of her car, and yelled, “YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME!” as she drove away. 😂

But that’s not really what happened.

Of course, there were emotions. This is my first baby we’re talking about. But mostly? I’m just so incredibly proud of the young woman she has become.

I love the school she chose. I’m excited about what she’s studying. I love the opportunities ahead of her. And I genuinely believe this is exactly the right next step for her.

Which is wonderful. One minute you're reminding someone to put on shoes, and approximately twelve minutes later, you're standing in a dorm room thinking, “Wait. They're just going to let you LIVE HERE without me?” 😂

We went to Parent Weekend to help with move-in—the hauling, the organizing, the figuring out where seventeen thousand tiny dorm-room things are supposed to go. 

And then came the very last thing. A prayer and commissioning service.

The school gave us sidewalk chalk and invited each family to find a spot on campus and draw a huge circle on the sidewalk.

Inside the circle, we could write anything we wanted: Hopes. Prayers. Dreams. Scriptures. Blessings. Words we wanted our student to carry into this next season.

So there we were, kneeling on the sidewalk with pieces of chalk, writing prayers around our daughter.

And when we finished, we stood around that circle and prayed over her. Then we left it there.

That might have been my favorite part.

Because throughout that entire first week of school, students walking across campus would pass hundreds of these chalk prayer circles left behind by families.

And they were encouraged to stop. Read them. And pray for those incoming freshmen.

I mean... HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Long after the parents packed up their cars and drove home, the prayers stayed behind.

⭕️

And I haven't been able to stop thinking about that.

THERE ARE MOMENTS WHEN YOU HAVE TO STEP OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE 

As parents, we spend so much of our lives trying to create a circle around our kids. We protect. We teach. We help. We remind. We drive approximately 4.7 million miles. We bring the forgotten water bottle. We ask whether they turned in the assignment. We make the appointment. We stand close enough to step in when they need us.

And then eventually, if we've done our job, the circle changes. They step into something new. And we don't get to go with them in quite the same way.

Maybe you're not sending a child to college right now, but I bet you know this feeling. Someone you love is walking into something you can't control.

A child making a big decision. A friend is going through something difficult. A spouse facing uncertainty. Someone you love moving away. A situation you desperately want to fix—but can't.

And our instinct is often to figure out what else we can do. But sometimes there comes a moment when we've done what we can do. And then we get to do something incredibly powerful:

We pray.

Not as the thing we do when we've run out of better options. Not as a last resort. Prayer is what allows us to entrust the people we love to Someone who can go places we cannot.

I couldn't go to every class with my daughter. I couldn't sit beside her at every meal. I couldn't make sure she found her people, made every right decision, or never felt lonely.

And really, I'm pretty sure the university would have frowned upon that arrangement. 😂 But Jesus could go with her. And suddenly that chalk circle meant something much bigger to me.

We weren't drawing a boundary around our daughter that would somehow keep everything hard out.

We were marking the moment when we entrusted her future to God.

This Week’s Faith Habit

DRAW A PRAYER CIRCLE ⭕️ 

This week, choose one person you love who is walking into something you can't control. And actually draw a circle.

Grab a piece of paper and a pen—or sidewalk chalk if you're feeling adventurous—and write their name in the middle.

Around their name, write your prayers for them. A Scripture. A hope. A blessing. Something you're asking God to do in their life.

Then put your hand over that circle and pray those words out loud.

And when you're finished, resist the temptation to immediately start figuring out how you're going to fix everything for them.

Leave them there.

In the circle.

Because one of the most beautiful faith habits we can practice is learning to place the people we love into the hands of Jesus...

and trust Him to go with them where we cannot. ⭕️💛