A Prayer for a Sick Child

Father, my child is burning with fever, small and flushed and curled against me, and I would take this sickness into my own body if I only could. Their cough rattles through the dark and I count their breaths the way I once counted their first kicks.

I confess I feel powerless. I have given the medicine, cooled the forehead, sung the songs, and still I sit here helpless, wishing I could do the one thing I cannot do, which is make them well by wanting it badly enough.

So I lift this little one to You, the One who gathered children close and would not turn them away. You love this child more than even I do, fiercely as that love burns in me tonight.

Bring the fever down. Settle the cough. Let them sleep deep and wake clear-eyed and laughing, hungry for breakfast, asking to play. Strengthen their small body to fight off what has taken hold.

You said to let the children come, that the kingdom belongs to such as these. Hold mine now in arms far stronger than mine. I give them back to You for tonight, and I will be here when they stir. Heal my child, Father, and let morning come gently. Amen.