Honest prayers: "Are you sure I can trust you?"
A blessing for VBS, a litany for Father's Day, & extra summer essays
This week on Mothering Spirit
In her latest essay, Rebecca Smyth shares an achingly familiar slice of life from marriage, parenting, faith and doubt:
“Do you really believe God is good right now?!”
His double take suggests he wasn’t expecting me to go down the ‘God’ route, but the wheels are off now.
“How is it fair that our children struggle every single day and our friends’ children don’t?! How is it fair that other kids have happy, normal childhoods and right now, ours don’t?”
He knows I don’t want the Sunday School answer. He knows I don’t want the Theology undergrad answer (my Theology degree has clearly left my body). He knows I don’t want perspective or a reminder of every mother who is bearing much worse suffering. Right now, we are one—those mothers and I—and I am our spokesperson.
Much to my frustration, Paddy doesn’t offer an answer at all. Because he knows I just need to get the questions up and out of my soul, to let them fly. To be free.
Read the whole story here: When We Have No Answers, Only Presence.
And check out the latest on Substack from for another beautiful perspective on parenting and partnership: I Left a Diet Coke in the Fridge for You.
“Let me, your very child, rest in you as my Father just as my children rest in me
Let me find my nourishment from the wisdom of your words
Let me find comfort in your bosom where you hold me
Let me know dependence on you, the sustainer of my life and my children’s lives—
the burden of life is never mine to bear.
My worry and the ache of my heart
My anxious thoughts and failing body
My pains and grasping
will never add even a single day to my child’s life—
their life has always been fully in your gentle hand.
The world and its horrors are ever present
but never mine to carry and deliver.
May I trust that you work to bring about every goodness
in the world
in my life
in my children’s lives…”
Read (and share) the whole prayer: Litany for a Mother with Intrusive Thoughts.
Extra prayers for this week
Celebrating the dads in your life tomorrow? Here’s an excerpt from a litany for Father’s Day that casts a wide net to thank God for all those who father:
Bless men who embrace fatherhood through adoption or foster parenting,
step-parenting or single parenthood.
Bless men still waiting and hoping to become fathers.Bless fathers whose work takes them away from their children.
Bless fathers whose work is with their children.Bless fathers whose lives are shaped by war, poverty, or violence.
Bless fathers who work for peace, freedom, and justice.Bless teachers and mentors who serve as father figures.
Bless pastors and ministers who lead as loving parents.Bless men who are separated from their children, by force or choice.
Bless families without fathers and all who love in abundance in their absence.
From “A Litany for Father’s Day.”
Did your kids spend the week singing, dancing, and playing at Vacation Bible School? God bless the volunteers and ministers that make VBS happen, summer after summer!
Check out this Blessing for Vacation Bible School & send it along to the staff at your church:
God of delight,
Bless our week together,
our playing, singing, learning, and creating together.
Open our ears to hear your word.
Open our eyes to see the needs of our world.
Open our hearts to serve with love.
May we grow in love for you and for each other
as we listen to your call in our lives.
Amen.
Copyright © 2017
from To Bless Our Callings: Prayers, Poems, and Hymns to Celebrate Vocation.For more summer reading
“If the pressure of a Pinterest-worthy bucket list and the nagging reminder of winter's biting zeros right around the corner overwhelm me with ambition to conquer these months by someone else's standards, then I run ragged like a red-cheeked toddler sweating from slide to swing to slide to swing. Even summer's playground can become a place of exhaustion. So I delight deliberately in a summer of spaciousness.” (The Spiritual Practice of Summering)
For every gardener—and every one of us who’s had to let go of perfection en route to acceptance: Pruning My Idea of A Perfect Life by Kelly Mantoan.
“Years ago, we once had the ‘summer of no.’ No camps. No planned activities. No. It might sound harsh, but for years afterward that summer remained one of our favorites because the nos made space for more yeses.” A beautiful perspective from a mom on the edge of empty-nesting: She Never Regretted her Yes by Anna Bonnema.
Want to write for us?
If any of these upcoming essay topics speak to you, we’d love to share your prayers:
Longing for support or community in parenting
A prayer for child care providers
Sending kids off to school or work for the first time
Original prayers are accepted (previously published on your social media, blog, or other personal site are fine). We’ll give you full credit and copyright, and tag you on our social media when we publish. You can respond here with your prayer(s) or email them to newsletter@motheringspirit.com.
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Another absolutely stunning essay from Reb! I also needed that prayer for intrusive thoughts. Especially this: “My pains and grasping
will never add even a single day to my child’s life— their life has always been fully in your gentle hand.” Amen ❤️