Posts Tagged ‘newborn’
how to pray with baby: in peaceful moments
The last in the series on how to pray with baby: all day long, up all night, in fussy moments, and in peaceful moments. Holding To pray: The Lord, your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you, just as he acted with you before your very eyes in Egypt,…
Read Morehow to pray with baby: for fussy moments
Wondering how to be more mindful with a new baby in your life? Check out two more ways to pray – all day long and up all night – and the complete series on spiritual practices with newborns. Crying To pray: O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord,…
Read Morehow to pray with baby: up all night
Continuing with the practical side of spiritual practices with newborns, here is the 2nd in this series of simple ways to pray while caring for a baby: all day long, up all night, in fussy moments, and in peaceful moments. Waking up at night To pray: I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my…
Read Morehow to pray with baby: all day long
For those of you drowning in diapers and midnight feedings, I’ve compiled a list of short Scripture verses and quick prayer practices that you can do while caring for baby. All day long. Up all night. For fussy moments. For peaceful moments. . . . Feeding To pray: Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord,…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: healing
Mommy, I just want to hug you around your scars! His sky blue eyes flash. His brows furrow. The cheerful animals plastered across his summer pajamas – a grinning monkey and laughing elephant atop a fire engine – smile up at me in stark contrast to the glare on his face. For weeks he’s been…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: holding
Be still and know that I am God. Your hands have held things that terrified you. Your first set of car keys. A boy’s sweaty palm. The college admission letter. Cold cans of beer. A brand-new passport. All gripped by fingers that trembled, knowing the weight of what might come next, the thrill as well…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborn: beholding
He gazes at me, steel blue eyes searching. He gazes. And gazes. Sometimes so intently, for so long, that I have to work to hold my own gaze steady, to meet his eyes with mine. This is part of the (happy) work of having a newborn. Watching them. Watching them change in front of your…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: accepting help
I thought I knew something about accepting help when a newborn arrives. But then last Sunday’s I wonder why my stomach hurts… turned into maybe we should go to urgent care? to that appendix needs to come out stat and the surgeon is waiting for you in the operating room. Nothing like an emergency appendectomy…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: comforting
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you… Isaiah 66:13 The poor babe is sick. Gift of a cold from his big brothers, generously passed along a week after they finished hacking and sniffling and crying for us all night long. Neither of them were ever sick so small, and it breaks…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: cleaning
Yellow-stained diapers are hanging outside on the deck, bleaching in the sun. Pump parts are drying on the kitchen counter. A rolled heap of wet mattress cover and crib sheet waits on the floor in front of the washing machine. Burp cloths are draped across couches and chairs. (And as I type this one-handed while…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: feeding
With a summer baby we slip into bed while the sun is setting behind the hill and we wake up when the sky is already bathed with light. And still we haven’t slept a solid stretch. Because all night he is nursing. All day and all night and all the hours in what feels like…
Read Morespiritual practices with newborns: a new series
Here we go again! Settling into Newborn Land… It’s a strange place to live. Everyone keeps odd hours. Crying is common. Spit-up and strange smells are expected. Nothing is ever clean. But it’s a sweet place to stay, too. Newborn neck nuzzles and curled froggy legs. Milky breath and fuzzy fine hair. Sleepy smiles and…
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