Thanksgiving Prayer

This was my contribution to the November issue of the American Women's Club magazine. I've received a lot of positive feedback from it, so I thought I'd post it here.

A Thanksgiving Prayer for Women Who Love Their Children but Aren’t Always Crazy about Being a Mom
Submitted by Anne Russ

Gracious and loving (insert deity here),

Thank you for my child. I am blessed by his/her presence in my life. There is magic and mystery and wonder to be found in his/her eyes.

Thank you for the extensive education that I can now put to use baking cupcakes, waiting in car lines, packing lunches, juggling sports schedules and presiding over petty playground squabbles.

Thank you for the profound sense of peace that I have in my heart. For it is that peace that prevented me from smacking my child upside the head when he/she said for the fourth day in a row, “But I want a different snack!” after school on the playground. It is that same peace that kept me from doing bodily harm to the lovely woman who recently asked, “So, when are you going to have another one?”

Thank you for those times when my child behaves like the gracious, kind and loving person I have tried to raise her/him to be. Help me to hold those moments in my heart that I might be sustained in times when he/she behaves like the spawn of the devil.

Thank you for that moment last week when I got to see the mom who always looks perfect, packs nutritious lunches and never raises her voice, roll into the school parking lot with no make-up and shove her kids out the car with two euros yelling, “Just go to the cafeteria and grab a donut!” It really gave me a lift.

Thank you for helping me find that apple core behind the couch before it started to grow mold and for the ability to remove that unidentified stain on the living room carpet.

Many, many thanks for the strength of character I displayed in not screaming at my friend from the states who wanted to know what I did with my time here.

Thank you for those times I am blessed to witness my child thrilled out of his/her mind over a new friend, a discovered talent, a revealed truth, an acquired skill or a simple “found” treasure. Those moments keep me from curling up in a ball in the corner of the room after hearing “I’m bored!” ten times in one day.

Thank you for the moms who nod understandingly and don’t judge when my child throws a fit. Thank you for the wisdom to avoid throwing tantrums myself, and I pray such wisdom will continue in my life.

Thank you for happy and healthy children. I ask your help in raising a child who will make the world a kinder, stronger, more peaceful place.

May my child know that, even on days when I consider running away to join the circus, I am grateful for his/her presence in my life. May he/she always know that he/she is always loved by you and by me come what may.