Dear God,
Here we are again at the beginning of another school year and here I am again asking for you to watch over my babies as they take off on another adventure of learning and growing.
Please Lord, place your hands on my girls as they walk into their new classrooms filled with new peers and a fresh, friendly face at the helm. I ask that you make their brains little sponges to soak up all the knowledge offered to them this year, and that they grow monumentally minute by minute as they take in lessons, lectures and learning materials.
God, while this year is not a “big” year for either of them – they are not starting at a new school or moving from elementary to middle school, I am a firm believer that every single year of school is an important one. Please fill them with excitement about their upcoming expedition and equip them with that enthusiasm the whole year through.
Unfortunately, we are also starting another questionable quest of uncertainty in regard to what this delta variant is capable of. Lord, I beg that you keep my sweet babies safe and healthy throughout the year. The unknown is scary – for both the girls and me – especially with knowing what to believe and what not to believe. Please guide our school district in making the best decisions to protect our kids. And please help us to remember to lean on You knowing, ultimately, You are in control.
And God, please be with all of the teachers who, yet again, are facing the same questions and challenges of what this year will bring. While so many have come up with creative ways to overcome the obstacles that Covid has brought these last 18 months, Lord, they are tired, and so ready to go back to the teacher life that they signed up for. Please shed your strength, patience, and love on them that they may not just get through, but enjoy, another year pouring their wisdom into our children.
Jesus, I ask that you flow through my childrens’ veins as they encounter day-to-day frustrations so that they may be calm, kind and loving. Please give them the strength to be more like You every day – to reach out to the friend who is lonely, stick up for the kid who is being picked on, and love all of their fellow desk and playground neighbors.
And on the days where they don’t do the best job of all those things, please place that feeling of guilt and repentance on their hearts and then swoop in with your sacrifice on the cross to give them another chance to do better tomorrow. Because, as I remind them daily, we all make mistakes and just need to learn and grow from them and do better the next time.
God, please help my babies to try their very best daily in the classroom and then sit with knowing that they did their best. If their absolute best means they missed a few test questions, please help them to feel proud of themselves – not based on the score of the paper they bring home – but knowing that they gave it their all.
And Lord, please help me as a parent to provide all of the help, support, love and lunch box notes (because you know I sometimes forget) along the way. Grant me patience especially in the late evening hours when extracurriculars are finished for the day, dinner has yet to be served, homework is still waiting in a backpack and all of us are exhausted and just want to cry. Place your hand on me, God, so that I may show my babies – and we can collectively learn — how to overcome rough, tiresome nights.
God, please be with our bus drivers transporting our babies. Please give them a clear mind to make the best decisions while our kids are in their care. Please keep them and our children safe so that they may walk into the school each morning and into the house each afternoon.
Thank you, Lord, for the many volunteers who help make the unseen day-by-day tasks go smoothly. Please help them to realize the impact that they are making on hundreds of kids because of their giving hearts.
Lastly Lord, please help my girls to know and feel loved throughout every single day that they are away. Please make sure that they see how worthy they are as a person and that any comment stating less than that rolls right off their shoulders. Help them to remember that not only are they loved fiercely by me, but they are also a treasured child of You, God.
I am asking you, Lord, to please bless this entire school year and keep my babies safe.
In Your great name, I pray.
Amen.
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