by Chris Carter, Regular MOMtor Contributor
Every single morning, on the way to school… we pray.
My kids expect this time in the car to be dedicated to inviting God into our hearts and minds as we enter a new day. I love that they have developed this habit of placing their thoughts and actions and emotions in the care of our Lord. Just this morning, my son asked to turn the radio on… and then he immediately changed his tune.
“No, wait! It’s our prayer time. Forget the radio.”
Cassidy agreed, as did I.
And I began to pray.
They listen and take it in. It’s our precious time to offer our fears and worries and people we love up into His welcoming arms. I wind around the needs and events of the day, and always lift up those we love that are struggling. I never miss a morning where I don’t place our lives in His Hands and pour out gratitude for every single blessing He has bestowed upon us. It’s personal. My kids get that. We can’t imagine starting our day any other way.
Without God, we are lost. So we cling to God, as we celebrate victories and ask for protection, intervention, and deliverance.
I always end with something like this:
“Please open my children’s hearts and minds to growing in You, and let them feel your Presence throughout their day. I pray Your Light shines in them and through them, as they go forward into the world. Guide them and assure them that they are loved by You. Always. Forever and ever, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
We delight in His Authority.
We embrace His Divinity.
We praise His Power.
We trust His Plan.
We receive His Grace.
We ask Him in.
Every day.
We don’t do this because we have to.
We don’t do this because it’s a rule or a mandate.
We surely don’t stop our lives and reach toward our Heavenly Father out of any fear of punishment.
We come to Him every day, because we want to.
There’s a big difference.
Many choose God out of duty and obligation.
We choose God out of love and adoration.
Many choose God because of fear and retaliation.
We choose God because we desire His Salvation.
We are deliberate in our delight. Because we trust in Him.
As I launch my children off into the world every day, I feel secure in knowing they are in God’s Hands.
And I am at peace.
I picture them grown and on their way to work, school, anywhere really, as they begin their days in prayerful gratitude and welcome their Loving Heavenly Father into their day. I celebrate with such joy, that they will carry on this well-worn habit in delight, not duty.
If this is the only thing I have taught them, then I have accomplished my mission as a mother.
The rest?
God’s got it.
Before having children, Chris Carter worked as a music therapist for several years in Chicago’s inpatient psychiatric hospitals. She also managed creative arts and recreation programming for four group homes. In that time of her life, she learned and grew to know the pain and suffering of so many people. She is now a stay-at-home mom and currently spends her days running kids to and from school four times a day, volunteering and keeping the house in some sort of order! She has a thriving blog, The Mom Cafe, where she regularly shares her mothering experience and wisdom.
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Oh Chris, I love that you begin each day praying with your children. I also love how you finish each prayer, such an important reminder of love for your kids to hear you asking God to shine his light in them and through them. You’re beyond wonderful and inspiring. xo
Kristi Campbell recently posted..Our Land: Getting Old part 1
Thank you from the bottom of my hearts, sweet friend. Truly so grateful for you… XOXO
Chris Carter recently posted..Dare I Dream about Prom Dresses?
I love that you do that with your kids and that they place such importance on it too. I just bet they will carry that with them into their adult lives. What a lasting gift you have given them. What a legacy.
Laurie recently posted..Embrace the Lessons
Oh thank you SO much Laurie!! Oh, how I pray it is embedded in them for life! XOXO
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
This is such a great ritual, Chris. It sounds like the perfect way to start the day. What a great way to break away from the crazy rush in the morning and just concentrate on good.
another jennifer recently posted..National #GrammarDay Haiku
It’s really amazing how it changes us- and lays such a good and solid foundation for our day. I love how the kids really and truly take it in, and actually remind ME to pray when I am frazzled and trying to tell them something or do something other than our prayer time in the car! (Like yell at bad drivers! lol)
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
I should use all of my driving around time to pray – maybe it would make me calmer!!!
I love that you are showing your kids how great it is to start the day with prayer!
Kim recently posted..Bring Your Personal Best to the Table Every Day!!
Seriously Kim! I wrote a piece a while back for my friend Hope at her place, Defining Hopes- it was called “Empty Spaces”- and it was about just that. Filling all those empty spaces in our days with prayer! – In the car, standing in lines etc. Just THINK how much we could pray!!! 🙂
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
Time spent praying is always time well spent. It brings it all together and gives me an anchor to the day. I feel the same way about reading the Bible. When I do it first thing in the morning, it is starting off the day exactly right. Love that you and your sweeties are starting your day this way! –Lisa
The Dose of Reality recently posted..10 Best Recipes On Pinterest That Will Make You Mom Of The Year!
Oh Lisa! I just LOVE that you read the bible in the morning first thing!! Girl- you are such a faithful woman!!! Now, I need to follow in your footsteps!! That would be the BEST way to start my day! Totally need to get on that- been meaning to for eh- 46 years. 😉
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
You nailed it, Chris. I was reading a devotional the other day and stopped cold at a segment that warned us not to rush into our days full throttle, like a racehorse ready to charge at the gates, but rather to pause and remember that God is walking with us, step by step.
This post of yours builds on that so well… I always want to take the time not just to focus my heart for my OWN day, but also to pray for my children’s days as well.
WOW Robin! Isn’t that awesome that this goes with that devotion! I love how that happens… 🙂
It’s been said- in so many ways, that we are to start our day with God, so that we can truly launch ourselves in His Arms as we go forward into our day. And I know why it’s said in so many ways – because it makes a difference. It truly makes a huge difference!
Thanks SO much for coming by and reading this, my new friend! SQUEEE!!! 🙂
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
Lovely post, my friend. This reminds me of a story…
Last week my 6yo got really nauseous (he’d been spinning in circles) and I found him by the stairs with his hands in prayer. I asked what he was doing. He told me, “I’m praying I don’t throw up.”
hahaha
Beth Teliho recently posted..Shit Just Got Real, People.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! That is down right HILARIOUS!!! And precious at the very same time!!
I haven’t stopped thinking about your post- isn’t that weird? And perhaps crazy? I am off to read it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today my boy asked if I could “Pray for ME with my testing this week- and not spend so much time on Cassidy…”
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
Chrissy, this is such a great encouragement on how to start the day. I’m sharing it over at http://www.facebook.com/1Corinthians13Parenting.
Thanks SO much Lori!! It is the most important part of our day… prayerfully embedded in their lives- I hope forever.
Thanks SO much for sharing it!! (Post on it’s way to you too!! 😉 )
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
I have been reading Jesus Calling each morning to the kids. They have a kids’ version that I want to get but I love this idea of praying in the car. I’m going to steal/borrow your prayer because you have put into words so eloquently what I want to convey to my children. We spend so much time in the car that we might get a whole sermon out of it. 🙂
AnnMarie recently posted..Death to the Imaginary Friends
HA!! I BET you could get a whole sermon out of it!!! LOL 😉
I love love love that you are starting your day with Jesus Calling every morning! Oh AnnMarie- with the mornings you can have with ALL your kiddos, that my friend- is incredible!! You steal/borrow away AWAY!!!
I love your heart for God and for the intentional impact you are having with your children. That is HUGE. I just know God is pleased!!! Your efforts do NOT go UNseen… bless your heart!!
LOVE you. XOXO
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
*****Without God, we are lost.*****
Truer than true, Chris.
Sometimes with HIM, I even feel somewhat lost. WHAT would I do w/out HIM?!
I’d be Nothing at all.
I pray throughout the day: “God, take it all. My words, goals, past, present, family, future, weakness, gifts, heart, soul, interactions sadness, uncertainty, EVERYTHING. JUST take it. I can’t do it alone. In Your Precious name. Amen.”
xxxxxxOOO
My Inner Chick recently posted..A Beautiful Resurrection
Oh Kim- I often pray that EXACT same prayer…. And oh, how many times I have been lost even WITH Him too….
I simply cannot imagine doing it all alone.
I wanna dance with you and your sis in Heaven, okay? Like *really* dance…. XOXO
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
I am with Tamara and mornings are just so not my thing. But this was absolutely beautiful and what can I say, but inspiring. Thanks Chris and seriously need to try to find more time to do this now myself!! 🙂
Janine Huldie recently posted..Hippity, Hoppity Easter’s On It’s Way With Janie And Jack’s New Spring Fling Girl’s Line
I tell ya Janine- I am the WORST morning person EVER!!!! My kids literally have to drag me out of bed… seriously. They come up to wake me up like three times before I am moving.
Find me at 2:00 being little miss productive though! LOL
It’s funny though, because no matter how crazy and stressed it is getting OUT of the house… as soon as we start our prayer time, everything changes and shifts. And there is truly a peace within our car and in our hearts.
I swear. Every. Time.
Chris Carter recently posted..The Perfect Way To Start Your Day-Pray!
Beautiful, Chris! I feel like our mornings are such ungrateful hot messes! Or maybe I act like an ungrateful hot mess in the mornings!
I love to think of God as having it for us. I kinda need that!
Tamara recently posted..Too Darn Happy.
Oh Tamara!!! Up until we get in the car, there is yelling and pushing and shoving and whining and more all over again!!! It’s so cool, because as soon as we get in the car- we all pull it together for our prayer time!! After a few sarcastic jabs- I say “Lets start…” and immediately, they change- and so do I. It’s quite amazing, really- how prayer does that. 🙂
Chris Carter recently posted..Grace For The Good Girl
We do something similar. We focus our minds on our Father in Heaven on the way to school and sing LDS hymns and LDS Primary songs. Our favorite, “There is Sunshine In My Soul Today” “……a carol to my King, for Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing….When Jesus shows his smiling face there is sunshine in the soul” Perfect line to lift us up and carry us through our day.
What a magnificent way to start your day Betsy! Love that. 🙂
Chris Carter recently posted..Grace For The Good Girl
What a beautiful picture of your morning. I loved “I picture them grown and on their way to work, school, anywhere really, as they begin their days in prayerful gratitude and welcome their Loving Heavenly Father into their day. I celebrate with such joy, that they will carry on this well-worn habit in delight, not duty.” It’s perfect.
HappyMomSusan recently posted..It’s 5am and I’m up.
Oh Susan- thank you SO much for your sweet words! I celebrate such joy, oh how I do!!!
Chris Carter recently posted..Grace For The Good Girl