Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Show More Love!!!

This was Austin's prayer tonight:

Dear Heavenly Father:

Thank you for this day. Thank you for my mom and dad and Macy and Paige.

Please help me to be a good boy.

Please help me to be a good boy at school.

Please help me to be a good boy at home.

Please help me to listen to my mom and dad the first time they ask.

Please help me to be a really, really good boy.

Please help me to listen to my teachers at school.

Please help me to make good choices at school.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

This is my prayer forever and always in my heart:

Please help me to not be such an angry person. Please help me to show more love toward my children instead of frustration and anger. Please help me to stop yelling, once and for all! Please help me smile and laugh more often. Please help me get rid of the mean, grumpy face that I show my children much too often. Please help me not to take things so seriously. Please help me to slow down and enjoy my children. Please help me to see the situation from their point of view. Please help me to remember to act in a loving way when I'm in the middle of the situation, and not just afterward. Please help me to show empathy. Please help me act in a way that the spirit can dwell in our home.

Please, please, please forgive me for hurting their feelings and shattering their spirits. Please forgive me for being so cruel toward the people I love the most.


*I read this again this morning, and it sounds like I beat my children. I don't! I don't remember the last time that any of them got a spanking. I just feel like I have such a short fuse lately. It seems like I wake up in a rotten mood and I can't shake it throughout the day. It seems like all my frustration is taken out in my impatience toward my kids. It just breaks my heart when I hear Austin say a prayer like that. He's not a "bad kid." I don't want him to think that - ever!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't be so hard on yourself. Some mornings it's really hard for me to wake up realizing I have to start all over again. And some mornings it is so hard to have the patience I need. That's a prayer I have said often myself. Perhaps not often enough.

Lindsay said...

That prayer is always in my heart as well. I think it is the same with every mom. We've never done this before! We don't know what we're doing! But thankfully there is always a new day to try again (even though I wish a new day would never come at times!)
That is a sweet prayer from Austin, at least he gets that he's supposed to be working on being a good boy. Jameson just prays that he will have a fun day! Oh well, I guess I hope he does too...mostly!

Valerie said...

Oh, what a sweet prayer from a little boy!!

Laura said...

Your prayer sounds pretty a lot like the one I say too. Like Lindsay said, I think quite a few moms say that prayer. Austin's prayer was very nice. It would be nice to hear Heather pray like that. Lately, I have been trying to follow the advice of the speaker form Women's Conference, Barbara Barrington Jones, and wake up and tell myself that it's going to be a great day and then try to face what happens with humor. Sometimes it works and sometimes, not so much.

Andee said...

Oh, that made me a little emotional! What a pure, sweet prayer. I think you're probably too hard on yourself too, Emily. From my outsiders point of view, you are a strong, wonderful person that radiates the Spirit and serves and loves all around you. Honestly, I noticed that right when I met you!

Jen-ben said...

I love that prayer!! It's so so sweet! And we all know that you don't beat your children...:) I love that you wrote that down!

Tera said...

Thanks for that prayer Emily! I needed that today. I feel the same way. Sometimes Deidre will ask me to do something and I immediately say no, then I have to take a deep breath and ask myself why I said no. I have been trying to not say no so quickly. I usually don't have a good reason. Thanks for the reminder.