OPPORTUNITY  PRAYER

Lord, you healed the blind and you healed the deaf - help us to see and to hear all that surrounds us, the scenes, the fall colors, the music and the chatter - and all the talk about what matters.

Lord, you fed the hungry and you reached out to the ignored - help us to be aware of the hungry and the lonely right in front of us and next to us each day.

Lord, you called all to live life to the full and to go beyond themselves - stretch us each day to our limits - and then some more and some more after that.

Lord, you have given us a thousand and one and then some more opportunities to be fully alive and fully aware of the beauty and wonder

of life and all its gifts - help us to welcome these opportunities each day.

Lord, help us see that it takes a family, a school, a church, a temple, a village to round out  a world - with restaurants, stadiums, classrooms, Bingo halls, hospitals, roads, airports, planes, trains, buses, cars, bikes,  skateboards, surfboards, sidewalks and highways to explore, to serve and to make each day to be a good day.

Lord, lastly, thanks for so many opportunities - and tonight we’re celebrating all the opportunities that come from sports - soccer, football, field hockey, cross country - playing, managing, coaching, cheering, driving, teaching kids how to lift weights and lift themselves to greatness, goodness and lots of fun. Amen.