Prayer for a child...and for myself...

So many of the things that are beneficial to embrace in life - gratitude, forgiveness, faith - take practice, lots of it. Living by prayer - not worry - is another.

I try to remember to change the useless activity of worrying into a calming reliance on prayer. No where has this been more evident than as it relates to my son. Early on I used to pray that he'd have a good day at preschool, but I soon realized this type of specific prayer was very short-sighted and likely to be disheartening if it didn't happen.

My goal for him in this life is not that he just have a good day. It's that he learn and grow and be all he can be.

Later I prayed to help us get through a bad day. Short-sighted again. Yes, we need help to weather the storms of life, but that is still just a stone on our path. I've prayed for his teachers to have patience, but maybe he needs stern-ness on a particular day. There are so many factors involved when raising a little human being.

I finally settled on this, which I say every morning after dropping him off: "Dear God, please watch over him and keep him safe. Please help and guide him. Please help and guide his teachers. Please help and guide Jason and I. I need Your help most of all, Lord, to know how to guide him. Help us all to lead him down a path that pleases You, and help him to see Your path too. Amen."

This is truly what I want for Brady. So I say it, then turn it all over to God. I cannot be there for him when he's away from me, other than the lessons I have taught him that hopefully stick with him, but God can always be there. It really is one of the best things I can do for him and for me.