WE PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN
We pray for the children
. . . who sneak a Popsicle before supper,
. . . who erase holes in math workbooks,
. . . who can never find their shoes.
We pray for the children
. . . who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
. . . who can’t bounce down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
. . . who never “counted potatoes,”
. . . who are born in places where we wouldn’t be caught dead,
. . . who never go to the circus,
. . . who live in an X-rated world.
We pray for the children
. . . who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
. . . who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
We pray for the children
. . . 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 any rooms to clean up,
. . . whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
. . . whose monsters are real.
We pray for the 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
. . . who 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 and
. . . whose smiles can make us cry.
We pray for the children
. . . 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 the children
. . . who want to be carried and for those who must,
. . . who 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.
Let’s offer our hands to them and raise our voices for them so that no child is left behind because we did not act. Amen
— This messages has been credited to Ina J. Hughs. However, it has also been credited to Marion Edelman