FCFCLA

That they may never lose their innocence.

A Prayer for Children

We pray for childrenwho sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,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 are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead in,
who never go to the circus,who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for childrenwho sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish,
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

And we pray for thosewho 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 any rooms to clean up,
whose monsters are real.

We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for thosewhose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children who want to be carried… and for those who must,
for those we never give up on…and for those who don’t get a second chance,
for those we smother…and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.

We thank you, God, for this time of change, challenge, struggle, learning, witness, and action for and with our children. Thou counseled us to take care that we not despair and that it is not the will of our Father in Heaven that even one of these little ones be lost. Help us, God, to overcome our selfishness and greed, our political and personal jockeying, our individual and organizational agendas, our need to be first, ~Marian Wright Edelman