So, I'm going to embark on something this upcoming school year. I can't stake claim to the idea - it's not mine. I totally stole it from others who are older and wiser and more published. But I have adapted it to fit my own life as a working mama and public school teacher. My hope and prayer is that this will become a ritual for me that will make my days more purposeful and inspired.
Here's the gist:
Seven specific times a day I stop and pray. Each prayer has a theme. If I have time I read a specific passage in the Bible (also stolen from others mind you). My timeline doesn't follow the original prayer schedule - I tailored it to fit my workday. I also wrote out specific prayers so that if my brain is fried I have something to read and meditate on in spite of myself.
I'm posting my prayers and findings below. If you deem them interesting or feasible for your life feel free to copy, paste, and print them for yourself or others. If you know me, ask me sometime how its going. It will keep me accountable. I'm excited to see what God has to reveal to me through this!
Seven Sacred Pauses
1. The
Awakening Hour (5:45 a.m.)
Reading: Psalm 19, 95, 147
Prayer: This day is Yours,
Jesus. Awaken love in my heart so that I am a vessel of light today.
Insight: A time to remember God’s
goodness and begin the day in glory. “What needs to rise in me today? Do I need
to awaken to joy? Forgiveness? Should I pray for resurrection of love in my
heart for my spouse and children? Ask for a dawning in my soul”
We begin a new day where our lives can become a
living praise. It is a time to celebrate. A time to celebrate reform,
healing, transformation.
2. The
Blessing Hour (10:00 – recess)
Reading: Psalm 67, 84, 121
Prayer: Lord, help me to approach my work mindfully with love in my heart. Grant me creativity, composure, inspiration,
and love as I continue in my workday.
May Your love be evident to my students and all those I interact with
today. Stir my soul and inspire me to do
good work. Help me to be intentional in
my words and actions and show me how to inspire and bless others.
Insight: This mid-morning pause has
two emphases. Mindfulness of the Spirit’s abiding presence and the
sacredness of our hands and work.
It is a time to invite the Spirit to stir our
souls. “This pause can redirect our morning trajectory from efficient to
inspired.” We invite a deeper connection before the day gets away from us.
3. The
Hour of Illumination (Beginning of lunch break)
Reading: Psalm 24, 33, 34
Prayer: Oh Lord, Your light is beautiful.
You are the perfect example of a servant. As I finish my workday, help me to serve those
around me. The day has already been
filled with many challenges. Search my heart
and teach me new things as the day continues.
Give me a teachable spirit, eyes to see and ears to hear your
Truth. Grant me peace and remind me that I am a vessel being used by
You to reveal Your beauty and light to those in my realm of influence.
Insight: At midday, the brightest
moment of the day, we recommit to being a light. We pledge to
serve, practice peace, give hope to the hopeless and provide light in the
darkness. We ask the Spirit to send light, to open our hearts, to change
deception to truth, despair to hope, hate to love. We search ourselves and ask
for light where we are harboring anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness. We pray
to bring joy to a dark world and offer our hands and words as agents of change
and justice.
4. The
Wisdom Hour (2:00 p.m.)
Reading: Psalm 71, 90, 138
Prayer: Forgive me Lord for my failings.
Place wise people around me and let me learn from them. Take away my anxiety, bitterness, anger, and
frustration and renew my soul. As I
reflect upon my workday grant me perspective for the day, the week, the school
year, and the years to come. Show me how
and where to improve myself and give me obedience to follow through. Release any darkness in me and cover me with
your grace.
Insight: At midafternoon we embrace
the themes of surrender, forgiveness and wisdom. We recognize the
impermanence of life and acknowledge that all things are passing. This hour we
pray for wisdom to help us live fully. With such wisdom we could live more
courageously, compassionately, free from bitterness and anxiety. We ask for
perspective of the short, fleeting day, the short passing life, release our
grudges, offer our gifts and embrace our time on earth.
5. The
Twilight Hour (3:00ish - the drive home)
Reading: Psalm 34, 139, 145
Prayer: Lord God, calm my heart and mind.
As I journey home to my family bring peace into my soul. Remind me of the many blessings in my life
and help me to recall specific joys of today. As I arrive home to my family
help me to leave my work day behind me and fully enjoy the time You have given
me with my family. Shower me with grace
as I may walk into a busy and chaotic home.
And please Lord, keep me mindful of the wonderful blessings I have in my
children and spouse.
Insight: Also called vespers, the
theme of this hour is gratitude and serenity. This hour provides a chance to
calm our minds. We invite God’s peace as we transition from our work day into
dinner time and evening. We ask ourselves what the greatest blessing of
the day was? What was a lovely accomplishment? What can I lay to
rest until tomorrow? Who do I need to make peace with?
A major focus of the twilight hour is
gratitude. We practice being thankful of our blessings, of the season of
life we are in. Even when this hour may typically be frenzied, we say
‘thank you’. “We say thank you for tomorrow, a perfect landing spot for
unfinished tasks. We say thank you for hands to labor and love with and
ask for grace for the work of the approaching evening.”
6. The
Great Silence (children’s bedtime)
Reading: Psalm 23, 91, 134.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for today. Place
your shield of protection over us all tonight.
Bless and keep my little ones.
Surround them with angels to guard against hurt, cruelty, and loss of
innocence. Help us all to live a life mindful
of You and Your ways. *Include specific prayers
for family and friends here.* Grant us
rest Lord so that we can begin tomorrow renewed and ready to accomplish what
You have set before us.
Insight: A prayer to conclude the
day. It begins with a gentle evaluation of the day, a beautiful prayer to
do with children, a spouse or a friend. The focus is on awareness,
weaknesses, strengths and accomplishments of the day. “We learn to live with
more integrity and obedience than the day before, as together in prayer we
examine the day.”
We pray for protection of darkness, for our
children to be sheltered under God’s wings, for chains to be broken in areas we
are stuck. We intervene for those who are suffering sick, lost and
hurting.
We welcome the darkness as well, a time to heal
and restore our minds and bodies. It is time to let go of the day and enter
into silence.
7. The
Night Watch (10:00/bedtime)
Reading: Psalm 42, 63, 119:145-152
Prayer: God, my heart is heavy just thinking about all the suffering in the
world. Please Lord, ease the pain of
those suffering in the midst of poverty and injustice. Grant courage and endurance to those going
through difficult times. Restore these
people in mighty ways and reveal Your love for them.
Insight: Also called vigils, this
pause occurs around midnight. This is a deep prayer, interceding, keeping a
vigil with Christ who never sleeps and guards us in our darkest hours. We
advocate for others that are suffering, abandoned, oppressed and lonely. If
you sponsor a child in poverty this is a good moment to bring them before the
Lord. “Perhaps some night when you get
up to pray, something will turn over in someone’s heart and find its voice all
because of your small prayer. Perhaps our very waiting in the darkness
gives some struggling unknown pilgrim in the hour’s hope.”
This is a moment spent in silence to shoulder the
suffering.
I love this! Thank you for sharing. I want to print this as a reminder and place a copy in my class and near my bed.
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