I have a guest post up at my awesome church’s blog reflecting on the Saint Francis’ prayer and how it relates to parenting. Even though I’ve been saying this prayer every morning for years, I never quite understood the depth of it until I became a mom. Also, the post is illustrated by a really cool picture of St. Francis, my favorite saint.
Here’s the first two paragraphs as a preview…
————-
“Let me not so much seek to be consoled as to console / to be forgiven as to forgive / and to be loved as to love.”
While I repeat these words – part of the prayer colloquially known as Saint Francis’ prayer – every morning, they truly get put to the test at night. As the mother of a one-year old, I’ve gained a much deeper understanding of these words over the last 12 months. After rocking a newborn as I paced the house to catching snatches of sleep upright on the couch because it’s the only way my baby can get any himself, I now understand that as a parent, this prayer isn’t a request – it’s a rule.
————-