Relationships and connection to one another is how we grow into being the people God has called us to be.   In Luke 18:15-17  the disciples deemed that Jesus blessing children was unimportant, boy were they wrong. Jesus  corrects the disciples and says that unless we receive the Kingdom of God like a little child we won’t be a part of the God’s Kingdom because God’s kingdom  values qualities that are most often seen in children; qualities like trust, dependance, wonder, vulnerability,  imagination, curiosity, and openness.  Being connected to one another creates opportunities to help one another see what we can’s see for ourselves.  Relationships and connection enable us to be our best selves by providing experiences where we can grow in love, kindness, patience, openness, faithfulness, generosity and in joy and what better way to grow in these qualities than through the gift of play. 

God, we bring our stories to this place today
and we wait to be held by yours.
We bring our faithfulness:
shape it with grace
We bring our successes:
shape them with generosity
We bring our weaknesses:
shape them with compassion
We bring our possibilities:
shape them with hope.
We confess, God, that the way is hard and we are tired.
Speak into our tiredness with your story of grace
We confess that the way is unclear and we do not know the path
Speak into our wandering with your story of vision
We confess that we are tired of waiting
and we just want to make it happen
Speak into our impatience with your story of wisdom
Let your story be our story and we pray this in Jesus’ name
Amen.