Some geography - and a prayer

UPDATE: At the excellent suggestion of a reader in the combox, I've added a line to the last verse of the prayer below...

My sister called as I was compiling the locations of the readers who arrived at my blog by Googling "school prayers" or similar phrases. You'll recall that I posted a Prayer For When Your Child Leaves Home; and a Student's Prayer and a Parent's Prayer for Students.

I have no way of knowing what those reader/visitors did with the prayers they found here, but my hope is that they found them helpful and that, perhaps, a few teachers or pastors may have distributed copies of these texts to others.

Those who Googled their way to my back-to-school prayers arrived from places around the world:

Dublin, Ireland; Toms River, NJ; Feasterville Trevose, PA; New Ulm, MN; Biggar, South Lanarkshire, UK; Port Colborne, Ontario; Souris, Prince Edward Island; Kansas City, MO; Chester, VA; Paducah, KY; Calgary, Alberta; Bridgewater, NJ; Austin, TX, New Delhi, India; Newark, NJ; Swindon, Swindon, UK; Cleveland, TN; Mississauga, Ontario; Madison, WI; Whitehorse, Yukon Territory; Tehachapi, CA; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Columbia, MO; Bridgewater, MA; Huntington, WV; Grand Rapids, MI; Rochester, NY; Toronto, Ontario; New Castle, PA; Oswego, NY; Santa Rose, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Wilmington, DE; Sherwood Park, Alberta; Green Bay, WI; Thatcham, Berkshire, UK; Ossining, NY; Freemont, CA; Chicago, IL; Montclair, NJ; Winston Salem, NC; Swansea, Swansea, UK; New Canaan, CT; Silver Spring, MD... among others!

If geography is an interest of yours, check out the widgets at the bottom of the sidebar to see where my readers hail from.

Back to my sister's phone call...

In speaking about these prayers she asked me why I hadn't written a "Prayer for Teachers." She may have asked this good question because she's a teacher! When I told her that next September I'd write one for teachers, too, she cautioned me that it would need to be something more than, "O God, help me!" - because that's a prayer that teachers already know.

But why wait? I'm sure that teachers can use all the help they can get!

A Prayer for Teachers

Dear God,

A new school day is about to begin
and my classroom door will soon open
to the students you've assigned to my care...

Open my mind and heart to each of them
and especially to the ones
who will challenge me the most...

Help me challenge my students, all of them,
to study, to learn, to grow in knowledge
and even in a little wisdom...

Help me remember, Lord,
how young my students are:
give me patience to help them grow up, at least a little,
and insight to know the help they need...

Help me understand that sometimes
my students may not understand me:
may I be clear in the things I say and do,
and in how I say and do them…

These children don't know the burdens and worries
my heart may bring to the classroom,
so help me remember, Lord,
that their hearts may be anxious and heavy, too...

Keep me from favoring any particular students, Lord,
except for those who most need my help...

Let my decisions in the classroom
be fair and just, honest and true...

Send your Spirit to fill me with gifts
of knowledge and understanding, counsel and wisdom…

Lord, open my mind and heart to my students' parents,
especially those who will challenge me the most:
help me challenge them to challenge their children
to study, to learn and to grow...

Help me teach as you teach, Lord:
make me firm when I need to be,
gentle in all things,
and patient until the last bell rings…

A new school day is about to begin
and I wonder...
What will the children teach me today?
And, Lord, what will you teach me today?

Amen.
(Rev. Austin Fleming)

-ConcordPastor