Prayer for Children

Today, May 1, 2014, is the National Day of Prayer. With that in mind, we offer this prayer for all children everywhere:

A Prayer for Children by Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner

We Pray for Children...
-- Who put chocolate fingers everywhere, who like to be tickled, who stamp in puddles and ruin their new pants, who sneak popsicles before dinner, who erase holes in math workbooks, who can never find their shoes.

And We Pray for Those...
-- Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers, who never "counted potatoes," who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead, who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.

We Pray for Children...
-- Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish, who hug in a hurry and forget their lunch money, who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off key, who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink, who slurp their soup.

And We Pray for Those...
-- Who never get dessert, who have no safe blanket to drag behind them, who watch their parents watch them die, who can't find any bread to steal, who don't have rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser, whose monsters are real.

We Pray for Children...
-- Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday, who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food, who like ghost stories, who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in church and scream in the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at, whose smiles can make us cry.

 

Amen