The Beatitudes - My Version

One of the most beautiful messages in the Bible comes from the Gospel of Matthew, versus 5-12, where Jesus teaches the Beatitudes during His “Sermon on the Mount”.  While there are so many parts of the Bible that are inspiring, the Beatitudes encourage us to live a life of humility, compassion and with a strong desire for justice.  They are simply a way, or THE way, for us to lead our lives.

I recently created a prayer for my students, stealing from Jesus and the Beatitudes, with my own twist to it.  Of course I give Him full credit, and to ensure it’s abundantly clear, that’s not a picture of me delivering this message.  In the age of AI, you can never be too careful, there are probably some who would post the Beatitudes verbatim and take credit, but that’s for a whole different blog post.

Without further fanfare, here is my version of the Beatitudes that I pray for my students (with deep gratitude to Jesus for what he said, and also apologies for falling far short of His beautiful message):

Blessed are the students who absolutely nail my tests

They make me giddy inside

Blessed are the students who nitpick everything I say or write

They make me more precise and detailed

Blessed are the students who aren’t the best and brightest, but they listen, highlight, draw arrows, and do everything possible, and they get a good grade

Blessed are the students who barely come to class, do very little work, and somehow pass, because they remind me of me

Blessed are the student athletes, because someday they will be as enthusiastic and dedicated to their career as they are right now to their sport

Blessed are the students who say “I don’t understand” in class, because probably no one else does either, they’re just willing to speak up and it helps everyone

Blessed are the students who show up at the end of the semester and have done virtually nothing, bargaining for a grade, because it reminds me I’m not a counselor, coach or savior, I’m their teacher, and it may be the best thing for them to fail my class

Blessed are all the students, in every gender, shape, size or personality, because it takes all of us to make life so interesting, special and magical