Prayer for all the Mamas

Dear Lord,

I have so much to do today. And each of the seemingly simple tasks opens up like an onion with a million layers. You know how I’m prone to panic, Lord, at the busyness, at the clock. So “teach me to number my days aright, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.” Help me to name my tasks, number them off, tackle them one by one. But more than that, Lord, teach me to do the unnumbered tasks—to love deeply, to sit a while in stillness. These are far more important. Slow me, Lord.

Teach me to have joy in this day, this precious day. This is my life, these busy moments. “This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Teach me, Lord, the sacredness of joy.

Lord, I want to be thankful today. Help me not to let my various stressors and sorrows loom larger than the beautiful truth that you are here, you are good, you are for me. Help me, like a child, to grasp that the mud pies are not as wonderful as a holiday at sea. They’re just not. Help me to trade finite for infinite in my affections, mediocre for extraordinary, earth for heaven. Help me to pray big prayers. Help me to hope, and dream.

It’s Mother’s Day this weekend, Lord. Help me to remember that my children don’t define me. Help me to see myself less as a mother and more as a child—your child. Beloved, planned for, free.

Thank you, Lord, for this day stretching before me. Help me not to miss it.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

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