The Lord will surely comfort Zion [an educator] and will look with compassion on all her

ruins
[discouragement]; he will make her [professional] desert like Eden, her wastelands like the garden
of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
(Isaiah 51:3)

Thanksgiving Knee Mail

Karen is a ninth grade English teacher at Summit High School, an inner city school in Denver,
Colorado. She starts each day with a five to ten minute quiet time alone with God at her desk in her
classroom. She randomly opens her Bible and finds a passage she believes the Lord wants to give her for
the day. She then prays this scripture for herself and the students, staff, and parents she serves. She prays it for all of those above her
in authority in her profession. On the Monday morning before Thanksgiving she opened her Bible and the scripture she turned to and
found was Isaiah 51:3. The Lord will surely comfort Zion [an educator] and will look with compassion on all her ruins [discouragement];
he will make her [professional] desert like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Karen then opened up the file she used as a journal in her classroom computer which is titled Knee Mail and began to write
a letter to the Lord. The scripture she read reminded her that she had been focusing on the problems she was experiencing in her
career instead of the solutions. She was focusing on the Goliaths, the problems, instead of looking for the smooth stones, the
solutions, like David did when facing a giant. For some time Karen felt like she had been facing several giants in her career and that
they were trying to gang tackle her. This was Karens journal entry:
Dear Lord (My Teacher)
Thank you for the test(s) you already have and will be giving me this school year. I am sorry for not yet integrating that unit on
contemporary songwriting you gave me to do. I will do it after the holiday. I apologize for focusing sometimes more on the growing
problems at this school rather than on seeking you, listening to you, and reading your textbook where I can find my answers to these
problems. Thank you that every test you give me here at school is an open book test and that if I raise my hand, ask you, and wait
patiently, that you will answer. Thank you for the private tutorials you give me each evening on the back deck at home. Thank you for
the mountains there that surround me and remind me constantly of your strength and your nearness to me. Thank you for Jack and the
kids.
Thank you for giving me the Holy Spirit gift of teaching. Thank you that I am not alone in my classroom to deal with the issues
that arise. Thank you for this brief Our Fathers Faculty Meeting we enjoy together each morning. Thank you for knee mail at school.
Thank you for the other staff members with whom I am able to pray. Thank you for their commitment to gathering on Tuesday
afternoons after school and their deep abiding friendship.
Thank you for not just living behind the closed doors of the community church. Thank you for being alive and well in me and
other educators who follow you into your schools. Thank you for honoring me with your tangible real presence here. Thank you for
teaching me to worship you in Spirit and truth, 24/7. Thank you for the freedom of worship, not from worship, that you have created in
this country. Thank you for teaching me this year that the purest form of worship is simple obedience to you everywhere I go.
Thank you for calling me to feed your lambs and sheep and to help you transform wolves into sheep. Thank you for comforting
and healing me when my career has been hurting me or breaking my heart. Thank you for allowing me to directly serve you by serving
the least, the weakest, of the students, staff, and parents I serve. Thank you for all the creative ideas you have given me and the godly
favor, and the great professional success. There is no one I would rather work for than you. Thank you for being my teacher, tutor,
mentor, and friend. Thank you for being the perfect principal and principle in my life. The bell is ringing and the kids are streaming in.
BLESS THEM. BLESS ME. BLESS THOSE WITH WHOM I TEACH! AMEN.
Love Always,
Your Honored Student - Karen
Prayer: Lord, Teacher, thank you for comforting us and teaching us how to follow you in our professional lives. Transform our desert of
professional discouragement, brokenness and heavy loads into a garden full of light, compassion, joy, and singing.
Reflections: Is my professional life more like a desert or a garden? What does God want me to do to maintain or create His garden?
Getting Real: In your lesson plans write Give Thanks each day as a reminder to thank God for at least three good things he is doing
in your professional life and to also one-on-one personally thank at least one student, one parent, and one staff member each day.
CLASSROOM LIGHTHOUSE SERIES: Fields of Faith in Education (For info or prayer contact ceaihouston@sbcglobal.net.) WEEK 14