I'd like to start the year with gratefulness and with a prayer which I think speaks of every mother's heart, i.e., A Mother's Prayer. I got this from the prayer book which I previously blogged about here.
There are so many things and aspects in my life that I am thankful for. But what tops them all is my family. This goes for both my own family and my Marikina family. I am so thankful that I'd like to always say this prayer and keep reminding myself to always "choose thy battle". I guess I was born "matampuhin" and sensitive that's why I have a tendency to dwell on even the petty things (side comment: pero konting amo lang ok na ko; pag dedma lalo akong natatampo). But I have a family now and I am really fighting to get over this nonsense emotion and to choose wisely my battles. There are more important things in the world which I should be focusing my energies on... and like I said, my family is on top of that list. And as the cliche goes, "A happy mom makes a happy home." So for me to do this, I really need to step up and shake off the negative vibes. Take care and pray for myself so I can offer more love, patience, and understanding to my family in the hope of creating a "home" where each member of the family will always want to go to.
Oh dear Lord, please help be the mother, guardian, and wife that You want me to be. I can't thank You enough for giving me a husband who is so loving and a good provider. He has a habit of challenging my status quo to bring out the best in me. I may not understand them at times but I know that this is for our common goal of creating a happy and stable home and in raising respectful, responsible, God-fearing and self-sufficient children. Guide me, guide us in this responsibility that You gave us. Thank you and Amen.
*****
A Mother's Prayer
O God, help to always remember
that you have given to me
the most important task in the world,
that task of making a home.
Help me to remember this
when I am tired
of making beds, and washing clothes,
and cooking meals, and cleaning floors,
and mending clothes,
and standing in shops.
Help me to remember it
when I am physically tired in body,
and when I am weary in mind
with the same things
which have to be done again and again,
day in and day out.
Help me never to be irritable
and never to be impatient.
Keep me always sweet.
Help me to remember
how much my husband
and my children need me,
and help me not to get annoyed
when they take me for granted,
and when they never seem
to think of the extra work
they sometimes cause me.
Help me to make this home
such that the family will always be
eager to come back to it,
and such that, when the children grow up
and go out to their own homes,
they will have nothing
but happy memories of the home
from which they have come.
Through Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Amen.
