Friday Challenge

My challenge today is to treat every interruption as if it were Christ himself needing my attention.  It's going to be difficult, that's for sure.  :-)  But I am hoping it will help me to be more attentive to my little one's needs, even if those needs are very, very little or not needs at all.

I've been trying to spend more time in prayer and it does not come easily for me - first in developing the discipline to set aside time for it, second in the discipline to not let other concerns enter into my mind during prayer, and third in being patient to wait for the fruits of these attempts.

Yesterday I tried praying the rosary along with a recording.  First, I got hung up when the reciter said "blessed are thou among women..." and it kept bugging me because I think that if you're going to use "thou" then you should use "art" instead of "are."  So instead of being focused on praying, I cringed each time I heard the words and tried to mentally speak louder with "blessed art thou."  So ridiculous.

And then the interruptions were no longer from me but from my children.  First it was screeching from one child not getting what they wanted.  Then it was screaming from another who minorly bumped herself.  Then it was the tattling from the self-proclaimed overseer of the time-out chair who had a report for me on the lack of silence from the child on time-out.  Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway - it was not helping me get into prayer or even a prayerful mood.

Eventually I turned off the stereo and said, "Lord, that's all I can do right now; I'll have to try again another time."  Because what good is it for me to try to set an example of prayer for my children that is overwhelmingly full of missteps, distraction and exasperation?  This is one reason why my prayer life leans toward being comatose.

But today is a new day full of it's own issues, and I'll tell you all five of the kids are louder than they should be and I can't seem to tame the tendency of the rising volume and I am praying that we can get my husband's office soundproofed for all our sakes.  And if I am going to be better at prayer and more attentive to my children, I had better get off the computer soon and pray a bit in earnest before the interruptions come.  St. Emmelia, pray for me!  (St. Emmelia homeschooled her 10 children, one of whom was St. Basil the Great)