Almighty God, the challenges facing children and those who care for them can seem so huge and so abstract that we lose touch with reality. Help us to remember that the needs and prayers of each child, each parent, each teacher, each caring person are as real and as individual to you as the items in our hands.

Holding up a crayon
And so we pray this day for the child care providers and parent who provide safe, warm, stimulating environments to spark a love of learning and fuel the curiosity of our youngest children as they scribble with crayons, pet the hamster, and try to taste the Play-doh. We pray especially for those providers who are underpaid and undervalued, for those parents who can’t find quality, affordable care for their children while they work, and for the children whose potential is squelched in poor care. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Holding up a piece of chalk
We pray for the teachers, covered in chalk dust, who devote themselves to educating our children and helping them flourish to their potential. For their dedication, imagination, and concern we give you thanks. We pray especially for those teachers who have given up on themselves or on the children, those who feel unsafe, those who feel unappreciated. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

Holding up a pencil
We pray for students gripping pencils as they strive to learn, especially those faced with the challenges of disability, unsafe schools, low expectations from their parents, teachers, and selves, and inadequate resources. Lord in you mercy, hear our prayer.

Holding up a Band-Aid
We pray for children who are sick and injured, who ability to learn is hampered by vision and hearing problems or illness. We pray especially for those children who don’t have health insurance to get the care they need, and for parents who worry about what to do, who rely on temporary solutions when prevention or treatment is needed. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Holding up a penny
We pray for the youth who are preparing for the world of work, that you will guide them in discovering their gifts and talents, skills and aptitudes, and surround them with teachers and adults who will get them ready to succeed. We pray especially for those young people who fear they will not be able to find work and earn a living, who don't have adults to help them prepare, and who despair of ever succeeding. Lord, in you mercy, hear our prayer.

Holding up a pen
We pray for our leaders in government, business and the media, that the laws they write, the bottom lines that are inked, and the stories they pen will demonstrate an investment and priority in our children today for our future tomorrow. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

Amen.