A Prayer For My Fellow Educators

 My husband and I are both educators. He teaches vocal music to high school, middle school (bless him), and elementary school students, and I teach mostly young adults at the local community college. His spring semester started last week; mine starts tomorrow. Last week, I sat and wrote out this prayer with the two of us and our colleagues in mind, and I decided today to share it here. It is truly my prayer for us and our friends as we pour ourselves out for our students over the next five months.

LORD God in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name
    In our our classrooms, our offices,
    the hallways, gymnasiums
    and wherever else we meet our
    students, colleagues, and community members.

May Your Name be treated as holy and sacred
    In how we speak,
    how we act toward others,
    how we respond under pressure,
    and especially in how we love our students.
    May You be seen in us.

You have entrusted us with the hearts and minds of these young people.
    May we take seriously the work of
    forming, protecting, growing, challenging,
    and especially loving them.
    Even the ones who are sometimes hard to love.
    Even the ones who fight us at every turn
    and make us question our calling.

Remind us, LORD, that there is almost always more to the story
    than what we can see.
    Remind us to be patient
    and to watch and listen for that story.

Remind us, LORD, that our job is to teach people
    more than it is to teach content,
    and while our students need to pass tests
    and write papers,
    what we really want is for them to learn
    to be good people.
    Kind. Thoughtful. Hardworking.
    Honest and filled with integrity.
    Humble. Merciful.
    May they learn to be these things by watching us.
    May our students see these traits in us
    every day.

LORD, we do also have to teach our students content.
    Help us to do so with passion
    that draws them in and gets them excited about learning.
    Help us to teach with skill,
    presenting our material in ways
    that our students can comprehend.
    Help us to teach with energy.
    Our students deserve teachers who make learning
    fun and engaging.
    And help us to love what we're doing,
    even on the hard days. I think that's when we need You
    to remind us - again - that we are teaching 
    people, not content.

And LORD, make our work fruitful.
    Let us see growth in our students,
    academically, socially, emotionally,
    and even spiritually.
    Help us to see that our work is not wasted
    or in vain, but that it is producing good things.

LORD, you have called us to this profession.
    Equip us,
    Empower us,
    Sustain us in the days ahead.
    Join us in our classrooms as we join You
    in the work You have placed before us.
    And may we work each day
    knowing it is not for ourselves that we strive,
    but for You
    and in Your Name.

Amen.