As September comes to a close and Compassion Blog Month with it, I want to share a poem with you, written from the perspective of a child who needs Compassion. Children around the world are close to my heart, and I hope you will stop and pray for them with fresh insight after you read. If you want to pray for a child by name, you can meet a child here and lift them up specifically.  Your prayer could be the ripple of influence they need to change their life and come to know the God of hope. This poem is inspired by a real girl in a real town. I snapped this picture years ago, and God has used it in my heart and mind so that I never forget we are called to be His hands and feet to those in need.

Praying for Compassion

Morning came like always in the corner where I lay
My stomach made me hurry, though no school was in my day.
Beside was my mother, a sister and an aunt.
I want to say my father, too, but honestly I can’t.
Crouching in the corner we pass around a dish
With bits of rice from yesterday, but eggs are what I wish.
No clothes to change or bed to make, no books tied in a rope,
So out the door-less room I went, a stomach full of hope.
From other holes and hovels friends like me joined in a group,
We dodged the open puddles, drawn along by smells of soup.
Out on the busy road we walked beside the cars and carts,
By stands of eggs and mangoes and something called French tarts.
Some people dressed in clean shirts walked to work with cups in hand
We passed a line of school kids, and I longed with them to stand.
Someone promised food to us if we’d step into his house
Like when traps set in the market entice a hungry mouse.
To get some money for my mom I tried to carry rice,
But I was chased out of the shop, not only once but twice.
Carefully I ran away so that I wouldn’t fall,
For as I’ve grown the shoes I wear have gotten rather small.
The food I have for breakfast doesn’t last throughout my days.
My faster friends went on ahead and left me back a ways.
My Grandma says I have a Father watching over me,
That He watches me from heaven and there’s nothing He can’t see.
She says that sometimes people come to give out gifts He sends,
Things that show He’s watched it all and wants to be my friend.
I ask Him if He’ll send them to the room where we all stay.
My mother would be happy if I went to school each day.
But today they haven’t come yet and my thirst grows with the heat.
The dust is stirred up as I shuffle on with tired feet.
And then along the road I see a cup I hope will be
A prize that someone dropped there or that Father left for me.
Crouching down I find a half full drink that’s waiting there.
My thirst is gone. I’m thankful for that Father who must care.
And if He hid a drink for me in dirt here on this pile
Perhaps He’ll send those people if I ask Him for a while.

You can find a child to pray for by name today HERE.   Add your prayer to our virtual blog prayer wall.