Here’s a little prayer that has made all the difference for me.
When the baby needs to eat…Jesus, I’m coming.
When my four-year-old comes in with a bloody knee and the fifth complaint that day against an older sibling who woke up on the wrong side of the bed…Jesus, I’m coming.
When I have to wake up too early because of kids-who-woke-up-too-early…Jesus, I’m coming.
When I have an afternoon with a mile-long to do list to accomplish (with five kids in tow)…Jesus, I’m coming.
When it’s ten minutes past the kids’ bedtime and there is medicine to be distributed and a wayward child(ren) to correct and a baby to nurse and pajama bottoms to find and a mouthwash cap to be opened and wrestling half-dressed children to separate and hair to be brushed and my own bedtime seems so, so painfully far away…Jesus, I’m coming.
Here I am, Lord.
This season of my life often impels me to move constantly, tending one need after another as I see it or hear it. I go from folding laundry to wiping noses to changing my bedwetter’s sheets to hanging up my husband’s shirts to making lunch to paying a late bill to refereeing the twentieth argument over Legos of the day.
And I still haven’t started up our homeschool again since having the new baby.:)
Honestly, a lot of the time I don’t feel like doing what I’m doing. I’d rather be writing. Reading. Getting Important Things done. It’s easy to let my mind wander to thousand different places–places that often make me feel discontented with what I’m actually doing that moment.
But…Jesus, I’m coming.
This little prayer helps me to focus on saying yes to God in each little task I tend to, instead of thinking about how much I don’t feel like doing it. I think it was St. Jane Frances de Chantal who wrote that we should do our best in each moment to perform the task that God has put in front of us, and leave thoughts of all the rest to Him.
Taking charge of our thoughts is so important. When I can successfully quiet my mind a little and be present to my work, I remember God’s presence.
Here I am, Lord. I know You’re here, too.
My oldest and my youngest. The tender love of my older children for their youngest two siblings is such a source of joy for me. These boys are a gift to one another.
Thank you Erin for this beautiful post. This is just what I needed to hear last week while the boys are running around being crazy and fighting with each other. Thank you!! What a beautiful way to look at motherhood and life!!
SO true and beautiful. I will try to take up that chant too. Prayers are with you!
“Jesus, I’m coming” – I love this, Erin. I “only” have a two year old boy, but I catch myself thinking I’d rather be reading/writing/playing the violin than digging in the sand or making mud cakes! So simply but profoundly said, thank you for this prayer today.