Prayers for tired moms and dads
The driveway
Two minutes with the engine off, before the noise.
But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.
Psalm 131:2, NIV
God, I am in the driveway with the engine off, and in two minutes I walk into the noise. Whatever the day did to me, let me leave it in this seat. Calm me and quiet me, the way a weaned child rests against its mother, asking for nothing. Then let me walk in and be the parent they are waiting for. Amen.
Two minutes in the car
The other moments
- The 3 a.m. feed The feed, the rock, the walk down the hall, again.
- The tantrum in the parking lot And the temper after, and the guilt after that.
- Nobody saw what you did today The forty things before nine, and no one to tell.
- The Sunday you did not go The nursery, the crying, the nap, and then it was three months.
- I miss who I was When nobody has said your name all day.
- When your child is sick The waiting room, the fever that will not break.
- The only one in the house who prays When faith is yours alone at the table.
- When you cannot remember the last time you prayed So this is it. It counts.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.