family life – Page 7 – Generous Wisdom

Sweet Emmanuel

Chocolate milk in the morning,
knee-high hugs good-bye,
chocolate-spotted suit pants,
dark stains that won’t dry.

In what disguise will he turn up today?
Distressing, calm, or well?
It seems he sleeps and wakes within us,
sweet, Sweet Emmanuel.

We are each a Christ to one another,
each harnessing a dove.
We are Christ to each other,
loving and being loved.

Waiting Through

The glass door is decorated with nose-smudges,
tongue-presses, and who-knows-what kinds of fingerprints
while the Christmas window-clings lie sparkling on the floor.

Advent has popped upon the top of me,
quick on the heels of a slow-in-coming Autumn,
a Thanksgiving whose late appearance leaves me rattling.

Our hand-made turkeys still hang on the wall,
probable witnesses to the Epiphany this year:
oxen, sheep, turkey.

Even on these cloudiest and darkest December days
the mess sparkles: strewn toy villages, soggy napkins,
crumpled tissues, packed bedrooms, loose bath towels, squabbling voices.

In the attic, the wreath and four candles wait for me to find them.

A Prayer for Patience

O most Holy Lord, who has waited for us so long, who continues to wait for us each time we fail, each time we turn away, instill in me the virtue of patience so that I might be more like you.

Grant me the grace I need to be patient with my husband when he has a bad day, to be patient with myself when I have a bad day; grant me the grace I need, O God, to speak to my babies in loving tones even when I am frustrated and feel unable even to pray.

Help me, Most Gracious One, to be kind, to be content, to be at ease. Let your Holy Spirit guide my emotions and my words, so that I might not only treat my family with unconditional love, but that I might be an inspiration to them and to others to grow closer to you in faith, in hope, and in charity.

I ask this through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.