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Daily Lenten Meditations

«  March 2010  »

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
  • Pray Light a candle. Every time you pass that candle today, offer a prayer of thanks. Don’t ask for anything. Just thank him.
  • Fast Don’t cut corners. Even if no one will know, complete today’s work thoroughly.
  • Give Touch is a powerful thing. Make an effort today to touch your children: a hug, a shoulder rub, a tousled head -- especially the bigger ones
1
  • Pray Make five minutes in the morning, at midday and in the evening to be still, silent, and alone, only asking God to infuse your soul with his will.
  • Fast No noise today. Turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod. Find God in the silence.
  • Give Pay particular unsolicited attention to your least demanding child today.
2
  • Pray Begin a gratitude journal. At the end of the day, jot down five things for which you are grateful. Think upon these things.
  • Fast Remember the first time you had a moment alone with your first child. What did you promise him? Do that. Be that.
  • Give We can only expect what we inspect. For every task you assign today, follow through and before it’s truly finished ensure that there is praise from you.
3
  • Pray “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me." -- John 10:27
  • Fast Every time a child interrupts you today, stop what you are doing and look into his eyes as he talks.
  • Give “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Speak kindly all day long.
4
  • Pray Ask God to show you how weak and small you are. Open your heart to see it.
  • Fast Don’t argue today. As much as possible give up, give in, give way.
  • Give When you are tempted to put on the TV for kids today, pull out a stack of favorite picture books instead. Invite the kids to join you on the couch.
5
  • Pray Take a walk, even if it’s cold or raining. Leave your iPod at home.
  • Fast Think of someone whose life you are tempted to envy and then choke out these words: Thank you, God, for the blessings you have given to X. Help me to see my own.
  • Give Think about the kind of person your husband married. Be that person for him today.
6
7
  • Pray "Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender." -- St. Therese of Lisieux
  • Fast As you go about your daily routine today, remember that you are expecting someone very important for dinner tonight. Together with your children, work towards your husband’s homecoming as if you were expecting to welcome a king back to his castle.
  • Give “You can do nothing with children unless you win their confidence and love by bringing them into touch with oneself, by breaking through all the hindrances that keep them at a distance. We must accommodate ourselves to their tastes, we must make ourselves like them.” -- St. John Bosco
8
  • Pray Take this quote to prayer today and listen to God’s answer: “Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so. Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God.” -- John Paul II
  • Fast Stop looking for encouragement and approval. Genuinely encourage and affirm someone else instead.
  • Give Let your child choose a huge stack of picture books (use that word “huge” when you ask her to gather them). Read them all to her today.
9
  • Pray Persevere. “He who does not give up prayer cannot possibly continue to offend God habitually. Either he will give up prayer, or he will give up sinning.” -- St. Alphonsus Liguori
  • Fast Don’t forget that the only pedestal you need ever stand on, is the one your husband and children build for you.
  • Give Focus on your home today. The world can find another volunteer, but your husband and children have only you.
10
  • Pray Insist on quiet from all your children during naptime today. Pray the Divine Mercy chaplet.
  • Fast We’re half way through. Compare yourself now only to yourself when Lent began. Tweak the plan.
  • Give Reach out to a local friend today. Reconnect.
11
  • Pray Ask God to make you humble and lowly.
  • Fast Don’t compare or complain. Do compliment.
  • Give Pack a picnic and go somewhere to eat it with your children. If the weather is prohibitive, build a tent in the living room and it eat there. Sit on the ground with them. Be fully present.
12
  • Pray Sometime before bedtime tonight, make time to pray with and for each of your children.
  • Fast Rise a little earlier and bring your husband breakfast in bed. (If it’s too late today, plan for tomorrow).
  • Give Plan a date night.
13
14
  • Pray Give thanks for food, clothes, and shelter. Listen to His plan for stewardship.
  • Fast Clean out the refrigerator today instead of eating lunch. Pull everything out and wipe it all down. As you do it, thank God for the food he provides for your family.
  • Give “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
15
  • Pray Before you read or do anything else today, pray this prayer, taken from the writings of St. Louis de Montfort: Lord, help me to imitate Mary's deep humility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience, angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom. Amen.
  • Fast Give up thinking things have to be perfect.
  • Give As you do laundry today, bless the person for whom you are folding. With every crease, offer a prayer.
16
  • Pray For a few minutes tonight, after your children are sleeping, kneel beside their beds. Let your breath rise and fall with theirs. Entrust them to the Father and thank him for lending them to you.
  • Fast Let go of self-recrimination. “There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside.” -- St. Basil the Great
  • Give Do not say “In a minute” or “When I finish this” at all today. Instead, put aside your agenda and meet their needs (and even some wants) immediately and cheerfully.
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Bloggers

Meet the Faith & Family bloggers. We invite you to join us in encouraging and helping the Faith & Family community grow in faith!

Danielle Bean

Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is Editorial Director of Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea: Musings of a Catholic Mom (Pauline 2005) and Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Pauline 2007). Though she once struggled to separate her life …
Read My Posts

Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and together they are the parents of five lively boys. Besides being a mom, she is also a writer and a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has maintained her personal blog at Testosterhome.net where she …
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Lisa Hendey

Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, a Catholic web site focusing on the Catholic faith, Catholic parenting and family life, and Catholic cultural topics. Most recently she has authored The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also employed as webmaster for her parish web sites. …
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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their young children Camilla and Blaise. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site is ABC Family. …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee

Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is the managing editor of Faith & Family magazine. She is (yikes!) an almost 30 year-old, single lady, living in Connecticut with her two cousins in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law …
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Hallie Lord

Hallie Lord
Hallie Lord married her dashing husband, Dan, in the fall of 2001 (the same year, coincidentally, that she joyfully converted to the Catholic faith). They now happily reside in the deep South with their two energetic boys and two very sassy girls. In her *ample* spare time, Hallie enjoys cheap wine, …
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Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr John Bartunek, LC, STL, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and …
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Guest Bloggers

Melissa Wiley

Melissa Wiley
Melissa Wiley is a homeschooling mother of six and the author of The Martha Years and The Charlotte Years, two series of books about the ancestors of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She blogs about children’s books, family, and home education at Here in the Bonny Glen.
Read My Posts

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Small Successes (2)

What did you get right this week?

Posted by Danielle Bean in Family on Thursday, January 29, 2009 7:00 AM

It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph. So on Thursday of each week, we’ll do exactly that.

To participate, just write up a list of 3 of your recent Small Successes and post it on your blog along with the Small Successes button (go here to get the code). You are not required to use the button, but please do link back to the main post here. Then you can add your blog here using the Mr. Linky form.

If you don’t have a blog, you can share your Small Successes in the comments.

To get us started, here are my Small Successes for this week:

1. I emptied my email inbox. Emptied it! I even saved some lost messages from my overflowing spam folder. Never mind that the inbox is now chock full again. This is meant to be a positive exercise.

2. I gathered dozens of small plastic toy animals and put them together in a tin to use as a quiet occupation for Danny when I need to get something done. I used it for the first time yesterday and it worked. For a full 20 minutes, it worked!

3. I thoroughly dusted the living room. No one was coming over. I just dusted because it was dusty. Go me!

Now share yours!

Comments
17
Filed under encouragement, links, small successes

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 
Posted by munchesmom on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 8:56 AM (EDT):

Thanks for starting this Danielle! I’ve been kind of down lately & doubting my household responsibilities. This is helping me to look more at the positive things I’ve been doing.

 
Posted by Kate Wicker on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 9:08 AM (EDT):

Purging my email inbox always offers a (temporary) relief. Thanks for this, Danielle. I look forward to celebrating other moms’ small successes this week.

Blessings,
Kate

 
Posted by Mary Dee on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 9:23 AM (EDT):

I decluttered the classroom and organized paperwork there.  Huge success on a snow day!

 
Posted by Kimberly on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 10:00 AM (EDT):

This is such a good reminder, particularly this week when I’ve been unable to get out much, and becoming a bit too hyper-critical of the constant small messes…Thanks for helping me remember “the little things!”

 
Posted by Michele Boyd on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 10:02 AM (EDT):

I love this!

1. I went to be at night when I was tired and did not try to push it.

2. I made better food choices. Not perfect, but better.

3. I did not impulse buy some things that I really wanted but did not necessarily need.

 
Posted by Denn Mom on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 10:37 AM (EDT):

I love this exercise! Thanks!

 
Posted by Marianne on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 12:14 PM (EDT):

Great exercise in positive thinking!

 
Posted by Meredith on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 12:27 PM (EDT):

Thanks, good week everyone smile

 
Posted by Maurisa on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 2:41 PM (EDT):

Giving myself a high five today.

 
Posted by Erin on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 3:38 PM (EDT):

Just shared mine, love the idea:)

 
Posted by TracyW. on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 3:40 PM (EDT):

1. I made healthy food choices all week (only one wagon spill with the leftover spaghetti).

2. I kept my mouth shut in a challenging extended family situation.

AND THE BEST ONE:

3. I dug the car out of the snowplow remnants at the end of the driveway that had turned hard and crusty and impassible AND got my son to school on time and didn’t use any four letter words except S*N*O*W* !

 
Posted by Sarah R. on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 4:22 PM (EDT):

Danielle, this is truly a wonderful exercise.  I was thinking of it as my week got off to a rocky start, and it has been a little beacon of hope to me throughout the week.  I also look forward to celebrating others’ successes and the fact that we CAN look at this POSITIVELY!  smile  Thanks again!

 
Posted by TracyE on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 9:23 PM (EDT):

and number 4 for me….I read ALL the blogs!!!  Love everyone’s site and their successes!

 
Posted by Haus Frau on Friday, Jan 30, 2009 8:26 AM (EDT):

Thanks for the reminder! smile

 
Posted by Dorothy on Friday, Jan 30, 2009 11:25 AM (EDT):

WOW This week was long…..And now on Sunday I’m hosting a Super Bowl Gathering to my surprise Oh the Joy…
GO STEELERS :p

So here are my Small Successes:

1.  Cleaned out the shoes closet, now we can fine our shoes in the morning… HURRAY

2.  I got to build an igloo with the kids for two hours; I forgot how much fun playing can be.

3.  Got rid of old Magazine but not Faith and Family I can’t part from it… hahaha Just the GOLF, WINE, and Travel Etc…

Oh and my DH and I watched Fire Proof.  Loved it and bought it.  It’s really about time someone could be so brilliant to send out this amazing message.

 
Posted by Joan on Friday, Jan 30, 2009 10:10 PM (EDT):

Well, I know I am late. It is Friday night after all!  I got through the week at school, even with 2 throw ups, Parent Open House, feeling horrible because of the bug that is going around my classroom, and sitting through Mass this afternoon with 17 wiggly 5 year olds.  Well, luckily (although not lucky for them)  8 of the students in my class were out sick.  Imagine 25 5 year olds in mass, all sitting together LOL?  They really were very good.  Much better behaved than the First Graders sitting behind us.  I was proud of them!

 
Posted by Mark on Tuesday, Feb 3, 2009 12:44 PM (EDT):

My eldest daughter (6) did not want to get out of bed yesterday.  So I started reading one of her Magic School Bus books out loud and then left her room in the middle of the story.  Half a minute after I left, she climbed out of bed and ran to my side.

I even got her into the bathroom!  I gave her the book and told her to go to the bathroom.  Nose in book, she walked right in and took care of business!


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