A series of exchanges on Via Lucis about the history of human cruelty led me to publish this children’s prayer for sanity. There are supposed to be line breaks, but they keep disappearing.

Dear God,

Please teach me how to pray.

We have more questions every day.

Our minds and fingers seem to find

and make a mess (we leave behind)

for other’s hands to fix and clean.

(Sometimes we’re even mean.)

Often we feel that we’re so small

that we don’t matter much at all.

And yet we know you made us right

and even called us “good” in spite

of all we do. So help us know,

dear God, how we should grow.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, March 27, 2012

Steve’s program “Keepin’ the Faith” can be heard anytime @ www.will.illinois.edu/keepinthefaith, including archive programs.