A Mother's Prayer

So, besides the fact that I was in a super sentimental, emotional, could've-cried-over-a-Huggies-commercial mood the other day when I wrote on being a mom, my desire still remains:
To be a good steward of these little lives I've been entrusted over.

But as I think about what it will take for me to love my children with greater and gospel-centered intentionality, I know feelings are not enough.  Gratitude and guilt only serve as short-term inspiration.  It takes a higher motivation to equip me on my mommy mission.  As C.S. Lewis so simply put it:
"Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in'; aim at Earth and you will get neither."

Aim: this is what I need.  The only way I can get my "daily bread" of passion and purpose in mamahood is to set my eyes on heaven. A vision for today, found only in a hope for forever.

What does this look like?  It starts with prayer... One way I know I can set my eyes on what is lasting- WHO is lasting.

The other day, I was struggling with patience for my daughter.  I simply asked Jesus to give me a prayer for her.. one I could remember easily and repeat often.  One that would shape my heart to see her through his eyes.  Later that day, the words effortlessly took shape in my mind as God gave me the prayer I had requested:

I pray...
That I would hear her... It's so easy to be distracted and brush off her sweet little words as unimportant, now that they flow freely.  I pray I would listen to her thoughts, look her in the eye, and hear her heart. I want to care about who God made her to be, what brings her joy, the times when she's downtrodden, and why she does the things she does.

That I would show her...  what it looks like to be consumed with Jesus.  To get up early each morning anxious to just be with the Lord. I want her to look at her mom and see what it is to love others, even when it costs a great deal. I hope I can show her how to be thankful for the body God's given her, an example for how to fight the covetousness within and around her.

I want to model faith and faithfulness for my children.  And when I fail- because I will each day- I want to model repentance and confidence in the grace that covers me.

That I would teach her... She will struggle. I will fail.  But there is One who uses it all for His glory, His grace! Oh, I pray I could use every opportunity, big and small, to teach her about the Man who loves her flawlessly.

Join me in praying for the bigger picture?... the only motivation powerful enough to infuse true purpose into another day filled with tantrums and dirty diapers and lots and lots of Oxyclean.