The Take-A-Knee Prayer: For players and the rest of us, too

Hey, I’m a free-speech sort of girl. I begrudge no one their peaceable expression of speech, whether they be taking a knee to protest something or marching to bring attention to a cause (or, for that matter, if they are staying away from stadiums or closing their windows as a peaceful expression of their disagreement).

This weekend the great distraction was about NFL players taking a knee during the National Anthem. It’s a story that has been going on for a while, of course, but presidential tweets escalated the matter, and so the drama increased.

Hopefully things will settle down soon (please God, because the people suffering from Hurricane and Earthquake devastation could use some of our attention) but for now — if our future looks to be full of athletes taking a knee out of protest or sympathy or whatever — I figure they might as well have a short prayer to bring with them:

Dear God,

May my actions be ever-peaceful; may my message be heard; may my countrymen enter into sincere dialogue, each with the other. Keep my motives pure, and my heart in the right place, and if you will, use me as your instrument to help heal this divided and troubled nation, which is losing sight of your many blessings. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

It’s not a bad prayer for the rest of us, either.