"Disturb Us, Lord"

I've been getting ready to start our new homeschool year, busily cleaning out our schoolroom and excitedly organizing our new curriculum. Back-to-school season is exciting, no matter what mode of education you have chosen for your child. I think part of it is the excitement of starting something new. The nervous rush of the unknown- new teachers, new classes, new experiences. During my years of teaching public school, I fondly remember the "back-to-school" feeling and it carries over today, even with my kids at home.

Yesterday in our schoolroom, I found a poem that I printed out last year. It had been quoted in a sermon I heard, so I found it online and printed it for both of my children (and myself!) to memorize. I'd love to share it with you today, as you get ready to embark on a new school year, a new season in your life, or maybe even just a new day. It is a prayer written by Sir Francis Drake, who was the first man to circumnavigate the globe, from 1577-1580. (Have I ever taken on anything of that magnitude??) His words are so powerful to me, especially coming from a man who definitely knew what it meant to embark on an exciting journey, sail into the unknown, make headway through (sometimes difficult) seas and trust in His God. May his words inspire you wherever you are in your voyage today.

The Prayer of Sir Francis Drake

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

we have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love."

Cyndi blogs at One Day More and Mater Magistra.