Back to School Blessing: Giraffe

 Every year my congregation blesses the students and teachers returning to school.  They receive a blessing buddy to carry with them (or display in their classrooms). This year's was a giraffe.

 Past years' blessings (eg, Camel, Hedgehog, Penguin, Octopus, etc) can be found here.

Every giraffe’s spots are unique, no two patterns are ever the same. Giraffe spots darken and become more distinct as they age. They do not make this happen; it just is.   You are you. Nobody else can be you, and you can’t be anybody else. We love watching you be you.  We thank God for making you just the way you are!    Simply by living, eating, and breathing with their heads in the trees and their feet on the ground, giraffes help pollinate the world around them.    God made your life to be a blessing to the world around you.  We love to celebrate all the ways you join in making life wonderful.    When they are born, baby giraffes drop six feet into this world and crash onto the hard ground. Soon after, they stand up on their new, spindly legs, and they are fed, cared for, and encouraged.    There will be shocks and bumps this year.  You will have pain.  That is just part of being alive. You are not alone. We will help you stand.  We will be with you through whatever comes.   Giraffes have been given natural compression socks to help blood circulate throughout their nearly 20-foot-tall bodies. Their spots are chock full of special, tiny blood vessels that release heat to keep them cool. Their 19 inch long, powerful tongues grasp leaves and branches to easily strip off leaves. Their muscular legs and flexible knees make them fast, joyful runners (over 30 miles per hour!), power their forceful back kicks when lions come at their heels, and gently lower them in the splits all the way down to drink water. Their huge hearts weigh 24 lbs, and their long, flexible necks reach high up food, bend freely for scuffling and playing with other young giraffes, and raise their heads for a wide, far-reaching ‘giraffe’s eye view’ of the world.   God made you capable and adaptable. God gives you what you need.  This year may you explore your gifts, test your skills, and grow your abilities.  May your heart get bigger.  And from time to time, we will remind you to look up and all around, to remember the wider picture, and see your place in God’s great big world.   Giraffes are intelligent and watchful, and while to us they appear quiet, they actually communicate with each other at a frequency difficult for the human ear to pick up.    We never know everything that is going on with other people;  there is always more to discover about each other.  This year, may you see each person with love and kindness,  even if you can’t understand them.   No giraffe lives alone. They navigate the world together, learn and play together, look after each other’s young, and grieve when one of their own dies. But even though they’re tight with their friends, they also like to hang out at the watering hole and share shade with other gentle animals who are very different than them.    This year, may you find your people and love all people.  And may the love of Jesus live in and through you.    Blessings as you begin another school year!  God is holding you, and so are we.  Amen!