A PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN Lord, we pray for children who put chocolate fingers everywhere, who like to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, who sneak Popsicles before supper, and can never find their shoes. And we pray for those who have no shoes, who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who never "count potatoes", 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. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord, we pray for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish, who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money, who cover 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 soup, who have no safe blankets to drag behind them, who watch their parents die, who can't find any bread to steal, have no rooms to clean up, whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser, and whose monsters are real. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord, we pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday, who throw temper 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 friends, who squirm in church and scream in the phone, whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry. And we pray for those who have no allowance, those whose 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 be carried; 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 anyone kind enough to offer it. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen. *********************** BACK TO INDEX