A Prayer for Our Children: You, O Gracious God, created us with an inquisitiveness and curiosity that should never be met with simple or dismissive answers. You created us to explore and examine, to challenge and test. For all the children and youth who will return to school in the days ahead, we pray for their growing brains to expand in every direction possible. As they learn the basics of math and writing, we hope your Spirit working within the teachers and the curriculum will kindle questions about life, ethics and just living. May the time spent interacting with other young people create healthy social skills and opportunities to collaborate. Where low self-worth and anger can lead to bullying and even violence, we pray for wisdom and grace and peace to reside in the classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, buses and athletic fields. May every young person find interactions that lift them, inspire them, and open the door of possibilities in their minds. We ask these things in your name, O Lord, but we do not simply ask you to do them. Make it a responsibility that each of us feels. Amen.
