Putting life into perspective, a useful reminder for most of us...

This prayer-poem is by Ina J. Hughes, from the book, A Grateful Heart:

We pray for children
     who sneak popsicles before supper,
     who erase holes in math workbooks,
     who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
     who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
     who can't bound down the streets 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 for the children
     who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
     who hug us in and hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray 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 any rooms to clean up,
     whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
     whose monsters are real.
We pray for 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, 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 into the phone,
     whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
     whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray 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 be 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,
     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.

Knowing my life is truly easy and care-free, and so thankful for it,
        Leta