A Prayer for the Mom Who Blew It Today

I have a friend who is the kind of mom I always thought I should be.

She is soft-spoken, patient and sweet. I, well…I am just..not.

She home schools her kids. I love my kids to death. I squeeze them tight and kiss their faces all over when they come home but I am always, always happy to put them on the bus in the morning. See, I know I am just not wired to be with them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

When they were small, of course, they were home all the time. I was so desperate for quiet, for time alone, that no matter how little sleep I had the night before I would get out of bed before the sun to sit in the silence.

Oh, how I loved my little ones, still do, but those years were hard.

I blew it a lot.

I distinctively remember sitting on the side of the bed on those days while all of my failures came back to haunt me. There is no broken heart in the world like the one in a mother who has given her best for her kids and blown it all anyway.

So…If you blew it today, this prayer is for you. I offer it with sincerity, with tears in my eyes, and all of the compassion in my heart.

A Prayer For The Mom Who Blew It Today
Dear Jesus,
I bring to you the mother who blew it today. As she sits in the quiet, bowed beneath the weight of her shortcomings, please, Sweet Comforter, be very near.
Here in this place where the accuser’s voice rings all too clearly, she is going to be tempted to become her own worst critic. Perhaps she will even believe the falsehood that punishing herself is some sort of justice.
But this is not the way of Your kingdom, gracious Father. Isaiah tells us that Your idea of justice is to extend outrageous mercy to the bruised and exhausted. (Isaiah 42:3).
It is so true that Your ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8) We may be drawn to punishment and vengeance, but You are a God of grace.
In Your mercy, help this mother resist the siren song of self-condemnation, words with deep power like…
“I am not cut out for this…”
“I am a bad mother…”
or “There I go again, Mom of the Year…”
Help her instead, to model Christ-like reconciliation for her children. May she find in You the courage to confess her sin to them, ask for forgiveness, and then lead her babies by the hands to the Cross of Christ where grace flows in abundance to all.
Then, may she rise again in the knowledge that You forever go before her; and that You are her gracious God who works all things together for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)
Amen