A Prayer for the End of the School Year

Our Father, our God of peace and power,

Give us strength for the ending of this school year.

You have led us, guided us, and cared for us. You have been our source of joy, love, and wisdom. You have loved us with a love beyond comprehension.

We have experienced no good apart from You.

Thank You.

Thank You for enabling us to do Your work this year. Thank You for strengthening us when we had nothing left to give. Thank You for Your Spirit’s leading in difficult moments and uncomfortable conversations. Thank You for inspiring us when our own wells of creativity were dry. Thank You for the incredible gift of Your presence in every moment of every day.

We could not have done this without You.

Help us to reflect on this year accurately, not with an inflated or deflated view of our experience.

For the moments of victory and accomplishment . . . give us humility and gratitude.

For the times we failed and fell short . . . give us assurance of your forgiveness.

For the unresolved messiness that we can’t make sense of . . . give us trust in Your redemption.

For the words we wish we could take back . . . give us peace.

For the memories that make us smile . . . give us delight in Your good gifts.

For the lessons we learned along the way . . . give us strong memories and the courage to move forward with new knowledge.

We ask you to take our efforts and multiply them. May every lesson plan, every hour of preparation, every graded paper, and every piece of content taught be a small part of building Your kingdom.

We release our students fully to Your care. Help us to trust Your good work in their lives. When our hearts feel heavy for the students we wish we could have helped more, the ones whose stories live in our hearts, the ones who we struggled to understand, or the ones who are existing in spaces that are not safe emotionally or physically—give us an assurance that You love them more deeply than we ever could.

We open ourselves to You as we enter the in-between world of summertime. Help us to trust Your good work in our own lives. When we feel strangely untethered and empty, when we long for routine and familiarity, when we settle into spaces of rest and relaxation, when we miss our students and when we definitely do not—give us grace to live well.

Thank You for what You have done, thank You for what You are doing, and thank You for what You will do.

Amen.

Photo by chris liu on Unsplash.