A Vacation Prayer For Those Who Serve

Gracious God, I don't know their names, but you do;
the anonymous servers...
the Jamaican maids whose lilting accents I hear on the stairwell;
the young concession worker who sold me a bottle of iced tea;
the waitress who asked me where I was from
and gave me more napkins without my asking;
the hugging, mugging, long-suffering theme-park actors;
the countless uniformed workers
I see at busstops
all day long.
I pray that their work
may lead to opportunity, not heartache;
that they might enjoy
some of the same things we've enjoyed while we're here -- beauty, magic, laughter, the best that comes from a mingling of cultures;
and that those they serve,
and those who employ them,
treat them with dignity and courtesy.

I pray this in the name of the One who came to serve,

Amen.