"Mother Mary"

On Thursday, we did our normal MOMS group at church routine. After the meeting, the leadership team and I were meeting, with our kids in tow, in the nursery to discuss the second semester. My kiddos were having a tough time playing nicely together. I grabbed them both by their hands. As typical, I had my game face on and was ready for battle...ready to sternly talk to them about their behavior. Prepared to be ignored.  You know the drill. Then I had a lightbulb moment. I was so proud of my idea. I didn't say anything, I just led them down the hall and knelt in front of Mary, crossed myself and started praying something like this: "Mother Mary, you are the mother of our Lord. Please give me strength to be a loving mother like you, give Kirby big boy words, and Susanna rose kind words and gentle hands. Amen."  I crossed myself and stood up. I still was bursting with pride of how I handled a situation that often ends in my being exasperated and wanting to scream. What an awesome Catholic mom I am!!!!  I'm disciplining them and teaching them prayer and teaching them to be calm and lean of God. I was so full of myself. Truly. I was going to lead them back into the hallway to discuss what I expected of them for the next hour when I noticed Kirby had knelt down and crossed himself in front of Mary just as I had. Then I heard him pray, "Kind Mother Mary. Can you help my mom not shout at me?"  

He got me good.  Sigh.