Growing in Patience
Aug 29th, 2007 by michelle
So maybe we are both growing in patience.
I am learning how to be patient as I hold a screaming baby while my little boy whines for something that he needs. He is learning that he can’t always have what he wants when he wants it. I think this process is a lot harder for him because he doesn’t quite understand what is going on. I, on the other hand, know how I should be acting and I am not living up to that. He is acting the only way he knows how and I am acting the ways that I know I shouldn’t.
Please pray for me that I will use this opportunity in my life to grow in patience and that through my growth I may teach my son patience as well.
Make me a better parent, O Lord.
Teach me to understand my children,
to listen patiently to what they have to say,
and to answer all their questions kindly.
Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them.
Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.
Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes,
or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.
May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction
or to show my power.
Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me.
And when I am out of sorts,
help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue.
May I ever be mindful that my children are children
and I should not expect of them the judgment of adults.
Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves
and to make decisions.
Bless me to grant them all their reasonable requests,
and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm.
Make me fair and just and kind. And fit me, O Lord,
to be loved and respected and imitated by my children.
That’s a beautiful prayer, one I know God is pleased to answer. New babies do bring some challenges as everyone deals with the transition. It’s hard, as the parent, to feel like you are being “fair” with your time, and there really is no way for the first one to understand. But it does get easier!
Rebeca
Wow, did you write that prayer?
I wish I had written it, but I found it on some website with no reference as to who wrote it.
Oh hugs, what a stressful time for all.
Beautiful prayer!
Wow, I’ve never read that prayer before….says it all, huh?
hang in there…i completely understand what you are all going through. you’re NOT alone
I haven’t seen that prayer for a long time, but I remember it putting tears in my eyes and really convicting me when I first saw it. You are in one of the hardest times of motherhood right now, in my experience. That was rough for us as well. But a new normal will soon set in, and it’ll get easier. It’s amazing to me how much God stretches us through our children. Also, in my experience, if God adds more children to your family, it will probably not be as difficult as now, as David and Grace will have each other while they adjust to baby #3. You’ll be in my prayers.
Wow, I needed that prayer, thanks for posting it.
Hang in there, Michelle, we all have our days (or weeks, or months)! Things will get easier, and just when we start to get it down, it’ll be another challenge.