Accreditation Prayers

On Sunday, I got to church a bit early, so I went to the prayer loom, as I often do when I'm at church early (for more on the prayer loom itself, see this post).  I wove some pieces of yarn into the loom as I prayed for my school during the week of the accreditation visit.  I also added my name to the prayer list.

Every time I took binders to the room we set aside for accreditation, I offered prayers.  Sometimes they were nebulous.  Some times, they were naked in their yearning:  "Please let us have a successful visit."  As we finished setting up the room on Thursday, the day the accreditors arrived, I offered a final pre-accreditation prayer.  When we met the group as they arrived, I silently prayed benedictions and blessings on them.

I tried to remember to pray throughout the visit.  And before we went to the room for our final meeting with the auditors, I prayed.

We had 3 findings, which were relatively minor, by which I mean we expected them and they're fixable.  We bid them farewell, and then we jumped up and down with joy.

Later, as went to the room alone to move the last of the perishables downstairs, I took one last minute to soak it in.  I thought about the transformations that the room had seen, from a classroom to a room that hosted accreditors.  I thanked the room for its good vibrations.

And then I offered a prayer of thanks--out loud, since I was alone--to God.  Do I think that God intervened in our accrediting process?  Not in the way that many might think.  But I do credit prayer for keeping me grounded during the process.  And that groundedness, that steady focus, helped us move to a successful visit.

I also know that it could have been otherwise.  We could have had a team arrive who was already in a bad mood.  We could have had something dreadful go wrong that would have been held against us.

I know that I am lucky in having the campus come together to work for this result--it could have been otherwise.  I know that we have great faculty and students who are happy to be at our campus--that, too, helped propel us to a good outcome--and it could have been otherwise.

This morning, I offer prayers of gratitude for all that went right.