The Front Line

 Dear God,

Please watch over my front line essential workers in Atlanta and Rome, Georgia and Fayetteville, Arkansas. I remember their eagerness when they discovered the calling. A good teacher doesn’t put herself first. Her goal is to serve knowledge in such a way that the child grasps a piece of learning to call her own, which excites them about the world around them and lights a fire inside to dream dreams.

The days ahead are unknown. In the world we had been living in, unwarranted self-assurance kept the keel even. Each day could seem the same. The sidewalk had the same cracks and a tree was just a tree, as always.  And then, to quote my favorite musical “The world turned upside down.” Now we are hanging onto the tree tops, feet dangling in the sky. We have never done life this way.

You know every name. Whether they have the advantage of well-equipped COVID preparedness or a smaller school hovered over by the community and the backbreaking work of every able body. The color of every bookbag. The character tennis shoes. You are a God of detail. You know us.

We won’t know until we know. If anything will work or parts of plans or computers at kitchen tables.

What to do about the empty tables of millions of our entrusted children in this great wealthy nation?

How education will look in this new era.

Temporary. Anxious. Hopeful.

The grace of God covering every teacher and child.

Amen