“Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She
prepares a world she will not see.”- Pope Paul VI
This little two year old has busy hands. While his big brother has a busy mouth. Makes for one busy household. There's always something to do. Always something to tend to. Fix. Pick up. Clean up. Mothering is a tiresome job--physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. Even with all the busyness, I've been making myself carve out time for prayer for these boys. Not on-my-knees-quiet-time prayer only. I'm talking about out-loud, laying-on-of-hands praying. And a lot of times, I'm exhausted and just want to crawl into bed myself, but I do it because I know it will reap great rewards. Something about motherhood gives me supernatural strength. There's a quote that says, "The woman is weak, but the mother is strong." Absolutely true!
I've written out a series of prayers that I speak over them at various points throughout the day. There's so much to pray for that I don't want to forget. My big boy likes to look at the prayers and read them over. I really love that.
At night before they are tucked into bed, I gather them like little baby birds under my wings and I touch them and speak prayers and blessings over them. My 6-year-old especially likes it when I pray for warrior angels to stand watch over them as they sleep. I pray that they will hunger and thirst after the things of God. I pray that generational curses will not rest on their shoulders. I pray that they will be shining lights. I pray that God uses them as He sees fit. I pray that they will not conform to the pattern of this world. And then I take prayer requests (for sweet dreams or sometimes no dreams or for little boy fears to be soothed.) When I say amen and am told that my prayers work and see smiles on their little faces as they lay their heads down to sleep, it makes all the busyness and tiredness worth it. And I trust that I'm preparing them for their individual promised lands.
Do you have a prayer routine for your kids? I'd love to hear about it.