God help the fathers
Elevate the longing of their want,
To grow up their children to you.

To teach them to bear
Through the behemoth of brokenness,
Carrying the uplift of hope
With their pausing breath.

Make the Holy Spirit the prayer interest
Of every child in motion with God
Returning them fruit
 Squeezed on swelling hearts.

And reward the searching father
With the tureen of faith,
Hopeful inspirations,
And the ladle of charity
For teaching the family to love its Lord.

And then, ask us again, Eternal Father,
Call us one more time
To dress for your redeeming alterations,
To carry joy in our shoes,
Ready to tap wherever you hurry.

And walk us among waiting needs, world wide,
Shiite, Suni, Kurd, Israeli, Palestinian
Of Fathers, and Mothers, and families,
To be still waters for furrowed brows,
Cure for those wounds of division and destruction,

Until perfection dawns, captured in your sunrise
When error will be lost forever, in the rough, way out there,
When we put on the robes of a perfect talk,
A steady walk, arm and arm in Christ
As the family of God.

Copyright © 2007 Ward Stothers