Kate Coates // Wife, mother, and student of five fabulous kids. Raising them some days with panache, others... not so much. Aspiring to live well and be all I was intended to be
Lord of all moms of high schoolers, since I’ve not strength to be
A saint by doing lovely things, like sitting- silently—
Make me a saint through my stomping and shouting, while protecting
My child’s heart. Grant me grace to love those who ignore her;
I don’t know where to start. And though I would not ask to be
Her guardian angel, Lord; I must confess- quite selfishly—I’d like to be
Her sword; that she might smite the mean meanies, and the girls who are too cool—
Forgive my mother bear instincts; stop me from being a fool.
For though you are a loving God, I wonder what you think
When I feel the urge to encourage my daughter to tell them that they stink.
I know that this is her life, Lord, and I know she sees much good
but often tells me more of the negative than she should.
Remind me it’s because she’s a kid, and because I am her mother
She brings me the hardships of her day, forgetting to tell me the other.
So I come to ask you humbly, Lord, to bolster her faith-filled heart;
Grant her strength to weather the trials of her teen years,
and trust that your plan is great art
Wash your graces over her; one day may she understand
That a fierce and loving God has been holding her always, in the palm of his hand.
