Ok dads, even though this article is going to be about the moms I do want you to read it as well. I am what most people would call a veteran mom, it simply means I have been a mom for a long time, having two adult children now. And seeing as how my memory is fully functioning I do remember back to those days when both my kids were young, see they are two years apart, and my first child was born premature and so when my second was born, he was still the size of about a six month old, and so I had in a sense two newborns, so things were very hectic around the house. My dear husband and my parents helped out as much as they could, but they all worked full time jobs so when they got home in the evening, they were tired as well, but they did what they could manage to do which I was very grateful for. I scoured the internet looking for any and all advice that I could find to try and make things easier for me to manage, and well, even though there was numerous advice out there, none of it seemed to work for me.
See, a typical week for me was filled with diapers, dinners, breakfasts, laundry, therapy appointments (for my son), doctor appointments, and I wasn't in the Catholic Church, yet I was a Baptist and also a Sunday School teacher, so I had lessons to prepare, snacks to buy etc.... I literally thought that I was just going to wither up and fly away from all the stresses. Even though I loved my husband and kids, I could not enjoy my role as wife and mother, because I just stayed so busy and tired. About the time that my son was 8 and my daughter was 6, is when I entered the Catholic Church. Not only was I still running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (a West Virginia slang for being busy all the time), now I had RCIA classes on top of that, what was I crazy? Why did I now add more on my plate, I mean being in RCIA and having to learn about the Church, the Saints, the many many Saints, the do's and don'ts.' Was I insane to take on this great task? Yes, I was crazy, and I am grateful that I did, because the more I learned, the more it seemed to help me in my day to day life. How you might ask? Well I am going to tell you.
My RCIA teacher, a nun in my parish, told me the very first day when I walked into my first class that I should pray the Rosary each and every day. Well when she said this, I could not help but snicker and I asked her how? How can I find time each day to spend at least 20 minutes praying this beautiful but very long prayer? She then told me to pick a Saint each day and read up on it,. Again I snickered as she has no kids to look after, so she has all the time in the world to do all of this. Where was I going to find the time each day to do this? I mean I was already running on fumes, getting very little sleep, and now she is wanting me to add all of this stuff on top of everything else that I was doing, is she crazy? But I agreed to give it a try and so I proceeded to head home to make dinner, help with homework, get the kids ready for bed, spend some time with my husband so he would not think that I had forgotten him, and then pray the Rosary and read up on one of the Saints. Could I manage to get it all done? Yes I did, and wow how good I felt. I felt like I had accomplished something so big, but could I do it again the next day, or did I just get lucky that evening?
I awoke the next morning, started my normal routine, and I noticed that things did not seem as stressful as usual, and as the day went on, everything went along very easily. I tucked the kids into bed, spent time with my hubby, then prayed my Rosary, read about my Saint of the day, headed to bed and got up the next morning and did the same thing all over again. And as the days went by, I kept noticing that everything was getting done, and I was enjoying the time that I had with my husband and kids, and I actually looked forward to the evenings when I got to sit down in a quite house pray my Rosary and read about the Saint of the day. My kids are now grown and even though our son still lives at home and always will, due to his special needs, I still pray my Rosary and read about a Saint each and every day. So that is what I would like to challenge each and every one of you mothers to do, and if you are faithful to the Lord, to just give Him a half hour to forty-five minutes each and every day. You will not only see your relationship to Him grow stronger, but because of your obedience, He will help you to carry your heavy load. Have a great day and God bless each and every one of you.
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