Sunday, December 13, 2015

Prayer For Teachers

Lord,

We pause this day and give thanks for those who have taught us the words to share our thanks. Teaching us simple words like cat and dog, they helped us to name our world.  They exposed us to the infinite with those finite words and with them we describe Your hand in creation and struggle with the strangeness and mystery of grace.  Teaching us arithmetic, they gave us the tools to count our blessings.  And so today as we offer thanks for those who have educated us, we ask your blessings upon those who shape our minds and hearts through the school.

Bless the bus drivers.  Help them to be safe.  Grant them concentration in the midst of the confusion of noise and clamor.  Give the grace to deal with demanding parents, a tight schedule and inattentive drivers in a dangerous hurry.

Bless the teachers, all of them, those who believe and those who doubt.  Help them to be sensitive to the needs of their students.  Most importantly, lead them to care for those children who have no one else to care for them.  Help them embody love and grace.  Do not let them forget in the midst of meetings, curriculum and papers that they hold the future in their hands.  Let them wipe noses and teach calculus with compassion.

Bless the school staff.  Help them to view their days of toil not as jobs but as callings.  Let their essential work help the schools to focus more clearly on each student.  Give them a sense of the value and importance of each moment, no matter how mundane.

Bless the lunchroom workers.  As they chop, cut, knead, bake and serve, let them do so in the light of your love.  They meet the most basic needs of the body so minds can be educated and the language of the soul can be learned. 

Bless the administrators.  Give them the insight to handle the challenges of each day.  Help them create safe and curious centers for learning.  Let them judge with grace and wisdom. 

Bless our children by blessing those who lead, educate and serve them.


Amen

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