As I count the years I have left to make an impact on my child’s life, I am sobered by the brevity of time. For what is my life but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away (James 4:14). In light of this thought, feelings of shame rush in for all of the teachable moments stolen away with work and other worries.

Father, please guide this mother to remember what is important and lasting in this world. Your greatest command is to love you with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. (Matt. 19:19) Your word says to seek first your kingdom, and all these other things will be added to me. Lord, give me the strength and counsel to live this out for your glory in the eyes of my child. This is the legacy I desire to leave impressed in his/her heart,
Within moments of this prayer, I know that I will fall short of this legacy. So, I call on your mercy that triumphs over judgment and is new every morning. Protect my child from my own wandering heart. Guard him/her from the sins than entangle me. Father, I call on the riches of your grace that abound freely. Divinely use my mistakes as moments for my child to grow in the understanding of the kindness of your character and the vastness of your immeasurable compassion.

As strongly as I feel that my child is mine, my heart also knows that You are the Giver of this great blessing and have favorably trusted me with this precious gift. Father, I humbly recognize that it is only through your mercy and grace that I am even able to stand as a mother. I rest in the intimate familiarity of the sweetness of your forgiveness and your redeeming love. May this mother be found faithful in Your eyes of what you have entrusted to me.

Amen

Rachel Pakebusch is a mother of four, a teacher of many, and wife of Murphy Church’s Discipleship Minister Paul.