Crusts & Crumbs is a new reflection for Sunday evenings: thoughts on today's Scripture from parenting's perspective. If you're hungry to connect faith and family, let’s chew here together. "The anxieties of daily life." Is there anything more ordinary? Preaching on perplexing signs and terrible fears that will signal the end of times, Jesus speaks words of caution: "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life" (Luke 21:25-28, 34-36). We laugh and swat away the first two, easy enough. But the last? Who among us is not dogged by anxieties? How could they be dangerous as drunkenness? Worry walks hand in hand with the work of raising children. From the beginning parents circle round small concerns and shrink from larger fears. Will the child be safe? Healthy? Strong? Worries change as children grow and parents age, but anxiety is still wound tight with love. How could we possibly parent without worry? But … [Read more...] about crusts & crumbs: pray, hope, don’t worry
anxiety
parenting & scripture: 4th sunday in ordinary time
"Brothers and sisters: I should like you to be free of anxieties." (1 Cor 7:32) Parenting, thy name is anxiety. This week I heard a mom joke that she tossed and turned for twenty minutes last night, mentally trying to design multiple escape routes from her home in the event of a fire. "I thought, 'What if the fire breaks out between my room and my daughter's?' What would I do then? So I had to come up with yet ANOTHER plan." We laughed, but behind the smiles lay a nod of affirmation: Yes, I've been there. Yes, I've worried about that. Yes, I've lost sleep, too. Whether anxiety starts during pregnancy or flares during the teenage years, worry goes hand-in-hand with being responsible for a child. Parents cannot protect their babies from all the dangers in the world, and they toss and turn wondering how to make choices that will keep kids safe. Today's reading from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians speaks directly to our anxieties, both worldly and otherworldly. Yet this passage can … [Read more...] about parenting & scripture: 4th sunday in ordinary time
prayers for anxiety in pregnancy
One of the best things about blogging is seeing what brings perfect strangers to your writing. Everyday I can see the list of searches that bring people here. And what brings more visitors to my blog than anything else? Prayers for pregnancy. Over time many of these searches were phrased in ways that broke my heart, that found me wondering about the back stories, even sending a quick prayer out to whomever searched and arrived here. Things like: "prayer for anxious pregnant woman" "prayers for pregnancy help" "prayers for unexpected pregnancy" The growing number of searches I see for "prayers for anxiety in pregnancy" has reaffirmed for me how worried, even desperate, women (and perhaps men) can be in the face of pregnancy. It is not always the blissful nine months of joy and expectation that the baby industry paints in pretty pastels. There are lots of reasons to be anxious and troubled during pregnancy. Medical reasons: previous miscarriages, a history of … [Read more...] about prayers for anxiety in pregnancy
