It’s been a painful, claustrophobic summer for many parents. Canceled sports and camps. Scrapped vacation plans. Taped-off playgrounds. Shuttered amusement parks, pools, movie theaters. Cooped up kids getting antsy at home, missing their friends and eager to get back to school. Many families hoped the fall would bring a return to normal rhythms, with kids at least partially out of the house for school. Alas, for many this August, these hopes were not realized. Instead, parents everywhere are facing incredibly stressful decisions regarding their children’s schooling, and few of the options are ideal.

“I never thought a pandemic would factor into my educational decisions for my children,” Glenna Marshall wrote for TGC last week. “But here I am, like parents everywhere, trying to decide what to do about school this year.”

Parents will make different decisions based on their family circumstances. But what all of us can do is show grace to one another as we make different choices, and help struggling families in our midst in practical ways.

The brutal summer has given way to what will doubtless be a painful fall. Parents, just breathe. Take it one day at a time. Lean on each other. Above all, look to God, ask him for wisdom, bask in his changeless goodness, and trust in his sovereignty. Most everything is different this fall, but he isn’t.