A prayer for my children

Master of the World, I am praying for my children. You know each of them better than I do: what makes them happy, what frightens them, the things they do not tell me.

Watch over them in body and in soul. On the roads, at school, among friends, and in the places where I can no longer be there for them. Give them good friends, who will strengthen the good in them and not draw them after themselves onto a bad path.

Let each of them find their own way. Not the way I planned for them, but what You want of them, the talents You placed in them. And if one of them chooses a path that is hard for me to accept, let me love that child without conditions, and not close the door on them.

And let me hear them. Let me listen when they tell about an ordinary day, and not only when there is a problem, so that when they have something truly hard, they will feel they can come and tell me.

Let them know You, not out of fear but out of closeness. Let them know they have Someone to turn to when it is hard, even when I am not there.

And let me see them grow up in joy, and be a parent they can rely on.

Let me entrust them into Your hand. I cannot watch over them every moment, but You watch over them always. Let me do my utmost for them, and rely on You in everything beyond it.