A parents’s prayer
I pray that I may let my child live her own life, and not the one I wish I had lived. therefore, guard me against burdening her with doing what I failed to do.
help me to see her missteps today in perspective against the long road she must go, and grant me the grace of patience with her slow pace.
give me the wisdom of knowing when to smile at the small mischiefs of her age, and when to give her the haven of firmness against the impulses which she fears and cannot master.
help me to hear the anguish in her heart through the din of angry words, or across the gulf of brooding silence, and having heard, give me the grace to bridge the gap between us with understanding warmth.
I pray that I may raise my voice more in joy at what she is, than vexation at what she has done; so that each day she may grow in sureness of herself.
help me to hold her with a warmth that will give her friendliness towards others; then give me the fortitude to free her to go strongly on her way.
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