Four years ago I prepared the following prayer for the beginning of a new school and program year. On request, we are including it this week.
A Prayer for Our Children and Youth as a School Year Begins
Font
of wisdom and source of insight, noisy buses once more accompany our
morning coffee and around the neighborhood heavily loaded cars pull from
the driveways. Anxious parents watch. Some from the windows. Some from
the roadside. All with emotion (even those who work to hide it). A new
school year has begun, so we pray for our children and youth.
May
they not lose themselves as they make new friends. May their strong
foundations help them to weather all storms that would harm them. May
their goodness attract and multiply goodness.
May
all that they learn fill them with wonder. Scripture calls us to love
you with all our minds. May our children and youth love to learn and
live to learn and love.
May
the differences they encounter deepen their appreciation for all that
is and help them to discover even more fully who they are. Many
influences will attempt to divide them. May our children and youth weave
the diversity of all that is into a multi-color, many-fabric tapestry
that points to all that can be.
May
they be kept safe from the misguided, small-minded, and cruel-hearted.
May they be open to the timid, true, and noble. May they find and form
community.
Bless
those privileged to serve as their teachers. May parents support them
and administrators clear the way for them. May the prayers of all
inspire them, encourage them, and remind them of their sacred task.
Bless
us as we walk alongside our children and youth. May we be open to the
lessons they have to teach us and to our opportunities to learn with
them. May our lifelong love of learning inspire their curiosity and
invite their questions.
Font
of wisdom and source of insight, a new school year has begun so we pray
for our children and youth. May all that they learn deepen their
reverence for, devotion to, and relationship with all that is,
especially you. Amen.
Grace and Peace Friends,
LP
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