Encouragement For A New Year
Teachers, it’s that time of year again. Whether school’s already begun for you, or whether it’s about to begin, the academic year is here, once more, in full force!
The beginning of a new school year can be a mixed bag full of emotions from excitement to trepidation. For music teachers, the beginning of the school year sometimes brings an even heavier workload than other times of the year. If you’re on staff with a marching band, you know what I mean! You’ve already been back to work for some time now, facing the heat and hard work of band camp.
Today I want to share some reminders, encouragement, and prayers for the new academic year. After each section of reminders and encouragement, I’ve also included a short prayer. Each prayer I share below is easy to memorize and call to mind as situations or challenges arise. In between class periods or right in the moment when something comes up isn’t the time to pray the rosary, but it’s possible to pray one of these prayers in 5 seconds or less!
Remember to Rely on God
Repeat after me: Self-reliance isn’t a virtue. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a diss at your capability as an educator. Instead, this is a reminder that you don’t have to rely solely on yourself to do everything. First and foremost, remember to rely on God each day, especially when you come across challenges in your work. He will help you through whatever it is you face, and He will bring you the answers you need. Just keep putting it all in His Hands.
He’s got you! He loves you, and He wants to help you be the best teacher you can be. He wants to help you through whatever challenges you may face in your role as an educator. He also wants to rejoice with you when things are going great! Don’t just bring your struggles to Him; bring your wins to Him as well!
A prayer to remember: O Jesus, I surrender myself to You. Take care of everything.
Ask the holy spirit for guidance
Here’s some amazing news: the Holy Spirit wants to inspire you! I’m currently taking a break from private teaching while I get my feet on the ground as a new mom, but back when I had a full studio, something I used to pray before arriving at a student’s home was to ask the Holy Spirit to guide our lessons, to help me teach what that student needed to learn, and to help that student be open to learning. I didn’t do this 100% of the time, but often when I did, that lesson would go incredibly well, even if it was with a particularly challenging student!
I encourage you to do the same with your own teaching. Whether it’s a full classroom or just one student, take a moment inside your heart and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. He wants to inspire you and to help you be the best educator you can be!
A prayer to remember: Come, Holy Spirit.
You can’t run on empty. Fill your own cup!
I know, I know – it can be really difficult, especially at certain times of the school year, to fill your own cup. Often, it might feel like you’re pouring out everything you’ve got into your students, but have little to no time to fill up.
Here, I want to share two short points of encouragement, because I’ve been there myself! The first thing I want to encourage you to do is to find small, creative ways to fill up. Maybe it’s as simple as keeping an electric tea kettle, a mug, and some tea bags on your desk so you can make a cup of tea to sip on during a planning period, or filling up a travel mug full of tea before teaching several private lessons back to back. Or maybe it’s throwing on your favorite album of worship music on the way to work, so that you can start your day praising the Lord through song. Bonus tip: keep a running list on your phone of things that fill your cup easily, so that if you’re ever feeling “stuck” and can’t think of something, you have a list to pick something from!
On another note, sometimes when we’re running on empty, we just want someone else to take care of us. Whether or not we have someone at home who can help us fill our cups, we can always go to our heavenly Mother and ask her to take care of us. A priest once taught me in confession to ask Mary to be a mother to me, and it’s a prayer I’ve kept in the back of my heart ever since. She, who was such a good mother to Jesus, wants to be our mother, too! When we entrust our empty cups to her, she will undoubtedly help take care of our needs, whatever they may be.
A prayer to remember: Mary, be a mother to me now.
Whether you’ve begun the school year already or you’re just about to begin, know of our prayers for you here at The Hildegard Collective! We pray that you have a fruitful, peaceful, and excellent school year, and that the Lord uses your witness, knowledge, and compassion to touch the lives of your students.
