A Prayer Before School

Many faculty and students are returning to school this fall wondering how it will all play out. With so much uncertainty and fear about the upcoming year, we offer this prayer. We stand with you in praying that you will experience the creative, redemptive, and sustaining grace of the One who was neither surprised by the last 18 months, nor unsure about our future, who cares about you, your family, and your educational institution.

Abba, as we return to or begin school, we acknowledge you as Creator.

Create in us eyes to see
     your image in all whom we meet this year,
     your splendor in all that we study this year,
     your active love in the midst of our campuses, labs, classrooms, and clinical settings this year. 

Create in us ears to hear
     the cries of those around us, 
     including those who may not yet know they are fearfully and wonderfully made,
     and your still small voice, reminding us that whether we are wildly successful or failing miserably, your love for us is unchanging.

Jesus, we acknowledge you as Redeemer.

Redeem our minds so that we may
     love learning,
     be wise, even when it looks foolish to the world,
     and, ultimately, have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Redeem our relationships
     with professors, staff, students, administrators, and clinical practice supervisors,
     with our friends and co-workers, helping us to be reconcilers as you were a reconciler. 

Holy Spirit, we acknowledge you as Sustainer.

Sustain our energy, allowing us to
     say yes to all you have called us to, whether in publication, serving those around us, activism, or rest,
     say no to invitations that did not come from you,
     complete the necessary but mundane tasks before us, knowing that in your kingdom there is no work beneath our dignity.

Sustain our bodies and souls
     from adversaries, whether they are in the faculty meeting or the clinical setting,
     from COVID and other illnesses,
     from racism and other ungodly avenues of thought and action that plague our society,
     from our complicity in those very same sins.

Triune God, we want to see you, follow you, and be like you this year.

Holy Trinity, take us to school this year, where we can learn to 
     love others as you continue to love us,
     resource others as you continue to resource us,
     see the dignity and worth in others as you continue to see them in us. 

Then bring us home each night with stories of your creative, redemptive, and sustaining grace. 

Amen.

This prayer is adapted from A Prayer Before School by Kathy Tuan-MacLean and Tara Edelschick, posted August 19, 2021, on The Well: Women in the Academy and Professions, an InterVarsity ministry. The authors are writing a book about spiritual transformation for mothers—see more on their website.

Whether you’re a nursing student, faculty member, practicing or retired nurse, you’ll find resources, encouragement, spiritual growth helps, and much more on the NCF website.