A Blessing to Begin

God, bless the hopes and anxieties,
The joys and the longings
Within us as we raise our children.

Bless the late nights
And the too-early mornings.
Bless the daily chaos
And the quiet moments, too.

Bless the growing hearts and souls
And their embodied hope.
Bless the future so full of promise,
And bless the past so full of grace.

Bless our belly laughs
And our bitter tears, too.
Bless the celebrations held
And the lessons hard won.

Bless the groans
When no words will form.
Bless the daily reshaping of our hearts
And the renewal of our minds
As we reshape and renew the world
With each act of love.

Bless the spirit inside us
That won’t give up on Your love.

Copyright © 2021 Kayla Craig.


“A Blessing to Begin” by Kayla Craig from To Light Their Way: A Collection of Prayers & Liturgies for Parents.

Kayla Craig believes in the power of story. She writes nuanced and nurturing prayers for parents raising kids in turbulent times at Liturgies for Parents and is an experienced podcast producer. She co-founded and hosts Upside Down Podcast, a place for ecumenical conversations on faith and justice. Her most recent published essays are in This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections + Practices (2019) and Rally: Litanies for Lovers of Jesus and Justice (2020). Kayla and her husband Jonny live in Iowa, where they raise four young kids. She’s stubborn in hope and has a penchant for deep mugs of coffee, deeper laughs, and even deeper questions.

Photo by Jame Wheeler on Unsplash.

Kayla Craig believes in the power of story. She writes nuanced and nurturing prayers for parents raising kids in turbulent times at Liturgies for Parents and is an experienced podcast producer. She co-founded and hosts Upside Down Podcast, a place for ecumenical conversations on faith and justice. Her most recent published essays are in This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections + Practices (2019) and Rally: Litanies for Lovers of Jesus and Justice (2020). Kayla and her husband Jonny live in Iowa, where they raise four young kids. She’s stubborn in hope and has a penchant for deep mugs of coffee, deeper laughs, and even deeper questions.

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