a mother's prayer

Give me strength to be a better mama today.

Help me to greet the new day with a smile and a hug for my children, even if the sun isn't actually up yet.

Help me to see the day through my children's eyes...
...that twirly beautiful dresses do in fact make the day better.
...that injustice does look like who got more fruit snacks.
...that a butterfly is worth chasing down the path, even if we are late to get home, and the baby is fussing, and dinner needs cooked.
...that sometimes the best thing to do is stand in the sunshine, arms outspread, listening to the wind in the trees.

Help me to be kinder. Help me to hold back that urge to yell when the moment gets the best of me. Help me to show acts of kindness despite how I am treated. Help me in this to demonstrate for them the people I want them to be.

Let me breathe in their sweaty hair, feel their strong limbs, see their bright eyes in the sunshine, and remember how blessed I am.

Help me to be more gracious with myself. No one in fact cares if the floor is swept daily. The world will not collapse if each meal doesnt contain all of the food groups. That it is more important to lay in the grass and look at ants than accomplish that adorable craft from pinterest.

Help me to be more gracious with other mommies. This is hard work and the majority of us are doing our darnedest to do it well, for the sake of these little beings we love.

Give me energy to play, without that third cup of coffee.

Give me laughter, to throw back my head and giggle at knock knock jokes told over and over and over and over.

Give me love to share. Willing hands to help. And a grateful heart for this life's mission.

In it all, despite it all, through it all, because of it all, I am so much, so much, so thankful.