Structure and Routine

 

Every day it’s the same:

3^rd grade, 2^nd grade, Kindergarten,

Lunch.

1^st grade, 5^th grade, 4^th grade,

Duty.

 

Just before lunch,

I park my cart in my 1^st grade classroom.

Grab my morning coffee mug,

Drop it off in my classroom,

Pick up one can of Zero Sugar Ginger Ale,

And go to Shauna The Art Teacher’s Room to eat.

I open my can of Ginger Ale,

Hearing the top pop,

Pour it into my afternoon soda mug,

Inhale my lunch,

And return to the building with my new mug,

Ready to take on the afternoon.

 

The structure and routine are predictable.

They are safe and grounding.

Even when I don’t want to face the day,

The schedule guides me through,

Propelling me forward as

Time marches on…

 

My first counselor, Jenny, once told me something that I’ve never forgotten:

She said, “The liturgy of the church holds faith even when we cannot.

And so we keep saying it—

We keep reading it—

We keep participating in it and doing it

Even when we don’t feel it.

It holds us

Until we can feel again…”

 

Oh God,

Thank you for creating this world

With structure, order, and routine,

And for letting us be part of the things that provide

Goodness, comfort, and faith.

 

When our structures and routines are turned upside down

Like they were a year ago at this time,

Help us to hold to the patterns that you have created.

Help us to remember that morning and night will always come,

The sunrise and sunset,

The moon and her stars,

The seasons in their turn.

 

And God, when we can’t sense you or feel you,

Help us to remember that

Your Word remains steady and true and that

Your Love is all around us.

 

Be with us today,

As we move through the day you have given us.

Help us to celebrate the structures and routines that

Propel us forward,

And help us to celebrate even the smallest victories,

Like the pop of the soda can,

And the gentle brush of the breeze…

 

Amen.