A Prayer for Students

Father, bless the students — the kindergartner with the oversized backpack, the teenager staring down a locker combination, the college student eating cereal for dinner over a laptop, and the grown-up who went back to school scared and brave at once.

Give them focus when the lecture runs long and the phone sits burning in their pocket. Give them discipline for the homework nights and rest when the work is done — real rest, Lord, the kind that isn't a screen.

Guard their friendships. Put good people at their lunch tables and keep loneliness from following them down the halls.

When they fail a test — and someday they will — teach them that failure is a chapter, not the book. When they succeed, keep them humble and hungry.

And beyond the grades, Father, give them wisdom — the kind that isn't on any exam: to tell truth from noise, to choose character over shortcuts, and to know that they are loved whether the report card agrees or not.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this at the start of a semester, on the first day of school, or any Sunday night when the week ahead looks heavy. Parents and grandparents often pray it with a student's name dropped in — it fits anyone from five to fifty-five.

A Verse to Hold On To

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." — James 1:5 (KJV)