Pre-Venient Prayer…

emptynest

Being a parent just got harder.

I may have to re-define empty nest.

Yes, my youngsters have flown the physical coop of home but what about my heart?

Just because they no longer live with me doesn’t mean I no longer worry about them.

I worry about them so much I keep myself awake at night and lie, shavasana style, one hand on my belly one hand on my heart and pray to ease my angst.

I give my good hubs advice when he starts to stress about them,

“Think back,” I say, “on when you were twenty-something.”

When I try the exercise, memories come flooding back and I marvel at how alike my daughters and I are.

I was born in a different time, I reason.  It wasn’t so dangerous…well on the roads at least!  No, really, in England the driving age was, and still is, older and there was public transportation…which held its own set of dangers.

I know, excuses, excuses.  I pushed limits, I took risks, I narrowly missed some questionable situations and I lived…to tell the tale…or not!

As a mother I took my life and raised my children in its shadow.  I wanted to somehow change the outcome so that they had it better.

My life shaped me as their lives will shape them.  They have an advantage though.  I am very much more involved than my parents ever were.

The jury is still out as to whether my children consider themselves advantaged.

Last night as I worried myself to sleep and awake again I had an epiphany.

Can my worrisomeness help my children and their futures?  No!

Can God?  Why yes of course!

I remembered pre-venient prayer.  Prayer that can be laid down by parents for their children’s futures.

Prayers I believe were laid down by my grandmother for me that undoubtedly kept me safe because I have no other answers as to how I turned up here today!

A red carpet of grace-filled blessings.

I sighed a huge sigh of relief.

God can do what I cannot.

He can stand his angels guard around my children.

He can have them lie down at their feet to smooth a rocky road.

He can have them be the voice of reason.

He can send them in as comforters when betrayal strikes.

He can open their eyes to the unconditional love of parents.

My pre-venient prayers will be that:

All the decisions my children make will shape them into Godly beings

All the people they meet will encourage them to rise above

and,

All the situations they encounter will prosper them.

I can do no more than that.

God can.

 

 

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