A friend passed on a wonderful book to me recently, Guide My Feet by Marian Wright Edelman. It is a book of prayers and meditations on loving and working with children. This particular prayer caught my eye...it's by Ina J. Hughes.
A Prayer/Pledge of Responsibility for Children
We pray (accept responsibility) for children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.
And we pray (accept responsibility) 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 (accept responsibility) for children
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray (accept responsibility) 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 have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
whose monsters are real.
We pray (accept responsibility) for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghosts 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 or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at
and whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray (accept responsibility) for 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 (accept responsibility) 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.
Adapted from Ina J. Hughes
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