A Prayer by W. E. B. DuBois

Greetings,

            As part of focusing on Black History Month I was reading again some of the writings of DuBois.  There is much happening our lives, and throughout our society there is a great need for people of character and strength, for people who have the truth and power of God.  The following is a prayer by W. E. B. DuBois who was a writer, teacher, theologian, civil rights leader and a founder of the NAACP.  The prayer was written while Dr. DuBois was professor of economics and sociology at Atlanta University, an institution which included a primary school, grammar school, high school and college.  It was for its students that Dr. DuBois wrote this and many prayers.

            "It is the wind and the rain, O God, the cold and the storm that make this earth of Thine to blossom and bear its fruit.  So in our lives it is storm and stress and hurt and suffering that make real men and women bring the world's work to its highest perfection.  Let us learn then in these growing years to respect the harder sterner aspects of life together with its joy and laughter, and to weave them all into the great web which hangs holy to the Lord."

            An appropriate prayer not only for young people, but for all of us.

Yours & His,

DED