Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Dear Lord?!!?

I am not typically a very religious person. But today, when I was having a difficult mom moment, I wrote this prayer.   To be as forthright as possible, I should note that I have NEVER before written a prayer – and it was not a moment of religious enlightenment – it was just me (feeling exhausted, annoyed, frustrated, and desperate) throwing my hands up in the air and saying “help!”
I addressed it as “Dear Lord” because those are two words I use often (however, I should confess, it is not said in a very kind tone – it is my go-to exasperated and annoyed exclamation) and it is the name I use to refer to a Higher Being. Please feel free to substitute with a name/title/being that is most comfortable for you.

Dear Lord,
Please give me the strength to deal with my children…

Help me to have…
  • The patience to listen and care, even about the seemingly mundane and childish things,
  • The understanding to know when to offer support and when to appropriately challenge,
  • The ability to not get annoyed at their pestering and pushiness,
  • The wherewithal to persist in being the mom that I want to be, instead of mentally and emotionally running away,
  • The happiness and joy that I think I should be feeling more often,
  • The endurance to continue with the day-to-day aggravations and humdrum tasks of raising children,
  • The energy and enthusiasm to play and have fun with them,
  • The empathy for their tears and crying and the awareness that their emotions are real – even when, to me, they seem to be excessively dramatic and over reactive,
  • The knack to appropriately cope with their whining,
  • The stamina to follow through with consequences and teachable moments,
  • The kindness they deserve, especially when I am tired, drained, and spent.
And, please give me the capacity to forgive myself, when I can not find the strength to meet all these expectations.

Amen.


Today I am participating in Pour Your Heart Out Wednesday hosted by Shell at Things I Can't Say.
For some more great posts check out all the other blogger Pour Your Heart Out links!

14 comments:

Tabatha said...

wonderful...

Jenn said...

What a beautiful prayer. I'm saving it for when Baby starts talking!

Tiffany said...

That's a good prayer. Makes me feel not so alone when I'm not having one of my better mom moments.

Thanks for stopping by today. I wanted to email a response but I cannot find a way to email reply you.

Shell said...

What a beautiful prayer! :)

I think I need to have this written out on the wall of my kitchen or something.

Thanks for playing along with me.

Jen said...

I'm going to print this out and put it on the fridge where all the important things go.

Dorkys Ramos said...

Amen indeed! I hope your prayers are answered...or that you work towards making these wishes happen!

Tylaine said...

Beautiful, beautiful!! That needs to be like a mom mantra or something!! (especially that last part) Love it!

Anonymous said...

I need this on my fridge all the time! What a great prayer. Thank you for posting. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by! I greatly appreciate everyone's comments. You guys have all been so awesome & made me smile! And I'm so glad to have found your blog too - I love it!! Your prayer is beautiful. All things I think about myself a lot. Sometimes it's hard to have the patience when you're tired & they're just bouncing around with energy :) And I think as moms we're often so hard on ourselves. My "bright spots" are days like today when I've been cranky & feel like I haven't spent enough time with them and my 3 year old comes up & tells me every day is her best day ever.

Oh! My live reader (so I can stalk myself LOL) - I can email you the code if you want. Hit me up at afhousewife(at)gmail(dot)com & I'll send it to you

Theta Mom said...

AMEN!

Unknown said...

After a pretty tough day, this is just what I needed to say. Thanks for putting it so eloquently.

Jen said...

Oh, I like that prayer. I need to put it on a pillow or something so I can remember it. :)

Anonymous said...

For someone that's not very "Gody" you sure nailed it!! Thanks for reading my mind, I am so thankful to have you by my side in these trenches. And remember... we will miss this! Hahahahahahaha ~Les

Traci said...

All I can say is Amen. This was beautiful and so reflects how I often feel as a mom.
:-)
Traci

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