prayer

Letting Go Prayer for Mamas with College-Aged Children

Father, I thank you for the gift of mothering this child. I believe you love him/her more than I do. As this child leaves my home to go to college our relationship will change. I worry I didn’t do enough to prepare us for all we will encounter. 

You know there are many things I need to let go of in order to hold on to what matters. Help me to be alert and available in my conversations with my child so that I pay attention to what You want me to see and hear. Distract me from my worries about grades, popularity, and future employment. 

Release me from my fear of not being liked by my child. Give me wisdom to counsel this child when they ask for my help, strength to hold my tongue when my advice is not needed, and the courage to intervene if his/her safety is at stake. 

Adjust my heart so that I see my child as the young adult he/she is growing into. I know that the good memories of their childhood will remain and I trust that we will continue to make new ones in the future. 

Jesus, give me a heart like yours to love my child. There will be times when I do not approve of their decisions, opinions, or choices. Despite this, I want to remain in relationship with them. Holy Spirit, be the point of connection between us. Let my child know how deeply and fiercely I love them. Strengthen the bonds of our family and inspire us with new ways to remain connected. 

So much of my life has been dedicated to raising this child. As I adjust to life in this stage of my journey, help me find purpose outside of parenting so that others may benefit from the lessons I have learned. I look forward with hope to what is to come. 

Amen 

Katie Kibbe


Soul Comfort in a Crisis

It seems as if everyone I talk to is suffering from a low-grade Quarantine-itis. The symptoms range from crying at the drop of a hat, short-tempered outburst over small things, and a general sense of anxiety about what is coming next. If this sounds familiar, I have some ideas about how to move out of this funk.

Our enemy is microscopic and has us divided into small groups preventing the linking arms and standing closer than 6 feet. In this surreal space, it is hard not to want to cry at the drop of a hat. Thankfully, we are not alone and we can help those on the front lines with our prayer.

Instead of diving headlong into things that normally bring us comfort like a bag of Pepperidge Farm Mint Milanos, what if we did more of what fuels our souls?

Let Go of Shame, Take the L.E.A.P.

Kickball was one of my favorite games growing up. I felt powerful propelling the red ball through the air with a swift kick.

There are many things other than rubber balls that we kick down the road. All those “round to it” projects, the ones we tell ourselves we “should” be doing as good humans. These “shoulds” come in all shapes and sizes. It might be files to organize, doing your taxes, learning to play an instrument, or something as simple as writing a note.

For years I told myself I should create fabulous baby books for my children. I don’t know how I came up with the idea that perfect mothers have perfect baby books. What better way to project the perfect image, spotlighting the joy without having to mention the struggles?

What she learned when she gave God what she loved.

Often we don’t recognize God’s hand in the midst of the daily until we are looking back over the road we have journeyed. This was especially true for Andrea Thomas of The Vigil Project. Andrea loved musical theater in high school and decided to pursue a music career and enrolled in Belmont University for her freshman year. As much as she loved music though, she felt unsettled throughout her first semester.

On a whim, she auditioned for a touring stage production and was cast as the lead. As she tells it, “I paused school to go on the road with a bunch of Veggies.”  After 100 shows in front of audiences around the country, she decided to return to school, but not to Belmont.

Is Your Prayer a Monologue or a Dialogue?

While there are a good number of days where all runs smoothly, sometimes it is just plain hard to get anything done. I hit snooze one too many times. I make it to the kitchen only to remember I used the last tea bag yesterday. Laundry never made it into the dryer, so now I have to wear my least favorite top all day. First world problems, I know.

Each “bad thing” layers on top of the other making it difficult to still myself. Instead of showing up to pray with all of my baggage, I let myself off the hook. Instead of offering up the lack of caffeine and the wardrobe challenge— I compensate with a treat. I tell myself that it will be ok, just today, to skip my morning prayer time so that I can stop and get a latte from the cute coffee shop nearby. Later in the day, I make time to pop into my favorite store for a wardrobe refresh to compensate for the frumpy I feel. I run fast to keep up with my jam-packed schedule and find a way to avoid the grocery store for just one more day. Knowing that I am setting myself up for another caffeine free morning, I plan, to go to sleep earlier tonight so I won’t need the tea in the morning. I skip exercise in favor of a relaxing glass of wine.

Hope in the Unfailing Love of God

Looking around at all that is going on in the world, it is easy to become discouraged. We are tempted to distract ourselves from our internal agitation by diving in to a tub of ice cream and a good Netflix binge session. There are few things I love more than an evening on my couch with Coolhaus Campfire S’More, my daughter and a comedy series.

While that is a comforting short term solution, in the long run we will face even more problems if we continue to use food and entertainment as a bandaid for our emotions and spiritual questions.

Instead, I would like to suggest using turning to the Psalms.

Persevering When Your Knees are Tired

Our small tribe has been touched again by the death of a very loved young person. And, once again, we arrive to a new day with more questions than answers.

I don’t know about you, but my mind would like to go to the easy place of throwing in the towel.

It might just be so much easier to hit the snooze button rather than wake up and join Jesus for tea/coffee. It would be momentarily more pleasant to let loose with a stream of expletives in the comfort of my car when the next terrible driver follows me too closely or cuts me off, feeding my anger rather than praying for the safety of all on the road. It would be more fun to go for a mimosa brunch, rather than sit between the squirmy toddler and stinky older person in Mass. It would be just a little bit too easy to drift away from the practices that I know tether me (which at times feels loosely) to Jesus.

Five Things You Need Every Day

Our approach to scheduling cause us more problems than we may realize. When our lives are overstuffed, it is hard to see past the next few minutes to dream about long term goals or make decisions necessary for course corrections. If you are approaching September feeling like your hair is on fire from all that needs to be done, I have come up with an easy approach to composing your day.