My Mommy Prayer

     Mommyhood is a high calling.  It is so rewarding.  I love being a mom.  I love my boys.  Some days are hard.  Some days are really hard.  Some days I miss the mark.  Yesterday, I missed the mark.  I raised my voice at my little guy.  He didn't deserve it.  Nobody deserves it.  I messed up.  I took responsibility and apologized to God, to him, and to my family.  I felt like a terrible mom for the rest of the day.  I know God forgives me.  It's hard to forgive myself.

What can I do?

1.  I can guard my schedule so I have energy for my family.

2.  I can limit our activities after school and make sure our family has "down time".

3.  I can pray throughout the day for myself.  My favorite verse to pray as a mom is Col. 3:12 "Clothe yourselves (daily) with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."

4.  I can stop expecting perfection from myself.  The truth is I am going to mess up as a mom.  I am human.  I am flawed.  I have to let go of the idea that I must be a perfect mom. When I mess up, I need to take responsibility.  I need to look for "progress" in my life not "perfection".

5.  I can read this "Mommy Prayer" over and over again.  I compiled this list of mommy reminders from some of my favorite parenting books.

You can download this for free when you click on the link:

Mommy Prayer printable:

Here are the written words of the prayer:

God, help me to:

put on kindness

put on tenderhearted mercy

be gentle and not harsh

use empathy in instruction

stay calm

respond not react

train/instruct in love

listen, really listen

smile often          enjoy my child

touch or hug my child

point out my child's strengths

remember my child is a precious gift

build up my child

spend time with my child

and pray like crazy.

For a closer look at how I choose to instruct my little guys check out my blog entry called "Disciplining/Instructing the little ones."