Back To School Prayers

Many children will be heading back to school in the next weeks, likely experiencing a range of emotions from excited anticipation to anxious uncertainty. These emotions aren't reserved only for students, but for parents, teachers, and school personnel, as well.
As a church community, we can lift up our youth, their families, and their leaders in daily prayer. Don't know exactly where to start or what to say? Here are some examples:

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Are you an educator? The list of responsibilities is great and often, seemingly unending. May you begin each day with peace and comfort as you influence the lives of your students everyday.

Julie Sanders, from The Mom Initiative, writes about the importance of prayers FOR teachers in addition to those we pray for students.

How to pray for the new teacher in your child’s life:

• Pray for the teacher as she looks at her summer to do list; she might not’ve had a vacation or success in taking care of needs.
• Pray for the teacher as she needs to be refreshed and healthy; her summer may’ve included loss, grief, disappointment, or trial.
• Pray for the teacher as she has concerns about how her relationships will change with the school year starting: daycare, marriage, family, needy children.
• Pray for the teacher as she gets her classroom ready; she may have to move rooms, may not have supplies yet, or might have issues to address.
• Pray for the teacher as she attends staff development and meetings; she may have requirements to meet or assignments to finish.
• Pray for the teacher as she re-connects with fellow staff & faculty; some working relationships might be challenging.
• Pray for the teacher as she sorts through curriculum; a change in grade level, publisher, or requirements can be difficult.
• Pray for the teacher as she begins to do her planning; teachers have so much to pack in, and the unexpected will enter in.
• Pray for the teacher as she receives information about her students; she needs openness, insight, wisdom, and compassion.
• Pray for the teacher as she meets a whole new group of parents; parent relationships are crucial to the success of students & teachers.

Every teacher is a real person who goes to the grocery store, does laundry, has dinner with friends, cries, hurts, and worries. She needs the Kleenex and the hand sanitizer, but most of all, she needs your prayers.

Whether you put someone on the school bus this week or watch a bus drive by, talk to God.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.