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 We pray for the children who …

… sneak popsicles before supper,

… erase holes in their math workbooks and can never find their shoes.

We pray for the children who …

… don’t know how to run down the street in a new pair of sneakers,

… are born in places where we wouldn’t be caught dead,

… and, have never been to the circus.

We pray for the children who …

… bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,

… hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

We pray for the children who …

… never get dessert or have a “safe” blanket to drag behind them,

… watch their parents watch them die,

… can’t find bread to steal,

… don’t have any rooms to clean up,

… don’t have pictures on anybody’s dresser, and

… whose monsters are real.

We pray for the children who …

… spend all their allowance before Tuesday,

… throw tantrums in the store and pick at their food,

… like ghost stories and shove dirty clothes under the bed,

… never rinse out the tub and get visits from the tooth fairy, and

… whose tears we sometimes laugh at and smiles can make us cry.

We pray for the children who …

… whose nightmares come in the daytime,

… will eat anything and have never seen a dentist,

… aren’t spoiled by anybody, and

… go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep.

We pray for the children who …

… want to be carried and for those who must, and

… we never give up on and for those who don’t get a second chance.

We pray for the children who …

… we smother, and

… will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.