Washington, D.C. — Oh God

Hear the cries of Your children everywhere

Ravaged by violence, poverty, racism, sexism, abuse and hatred

Scared, labeled, arrested and imprisoned unjustly

Ignored by those with power as they languish in crumbling schools and dangerous neighborhoods, homeless shelters and detention centers

Labeled too often by those entrusted with their education and protection as dumb, disruptive, bad and losers

Marginalized by those who are elected to protect them because they don’t vote or make campaign contributions

Resented and neglected by some entrusted to care for and protect them in often inhumane and underfunded child welfare and juvenile justice systems

Hear our cries for our children all powerful God and help them in every needed way

Fight their battles, turn the hearts and transform the actions of those who imprison them in the darkness of violence, structural poverty and low expectations

Open the Red Sea of hope and opportunity to them

Send manna in the wilderness of greed and

Lead them into the promised land.

**

Children – God’s Sacred Inheritance

Reduced by many from God’s gifts and inheritance

To men’s property

To women’s burden

To society’s problem

To workforce commodity

To a family value

To political photo-op and prop

To fodder for military

To corporate marketing target

Valueless unless marketable

Valueless unless problemless

Valueless as vulnerable dependent humans entrusted to adult protection and care

Valueless as God’s special creations and messengers of hope

Valueless until consumers

Children are the seeds from heaven and the stewards of tomorrow.

God’s precious inheritance squandered throughout our earth.

Excerpted from the revised upcoming edition of my book Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations for Our Children.