The only success recognized by God is Christ-likeness. The only way to become like Christ is to spend time with Him in prayer.
As a mom, your job is to bring Christ to your children and your husband. To do that, you have to be filled with Christ first. We can’t be nice and patient unless we sit with the Lord. – Fr. Brett Brennan. Quotes taken from “The Importance of Personal Prayer” by Rachel Balducci, printed in The Catholic Digest.
Those quotes highlight the focus for my 2014: Spend time with God daily, and progress towards becoming a patient, gentle mother. I’ve gathered some resources to help me attain four major goals:
1) Become a more gentle parent
2) Reduce causes of stress at home
3) Strengthen habits of Faith in our family life
4) Complete action items/projects on my home to-do list
Ok, so how do I expect to do this and become a more peaceful woman by the time 2015 comes around? I spent a few hours at the end of December breaking up the first three goals into manageable monthly habits. It’s progress one step at a time, one month at a time. I’ve felt God’s call to these goals. I’ve planned and prepared. Now, it’s time to pray every morning for His help, because I’ve experienced what it’s like to fumble through relying only on myself, and it ain’t pretty.
You can read my entire plan for 2014 here. So far, it’s been great to focus on only three things for January, and I get excited when I think about what’s in store for the rest of the year.
Resources used:
1) 12 Steps to Gentle Parenting (free)
2) Goodbye Chaos, Hello Peace 12 Essential Habits (free)
3) 10 Gifts of Wisdom
God bless you during 2014!
