Time for faith
Hi lovely ladies,
I’m almost 5 weeks pp and I’m really struggling with my prayer life.
The best I’m doing is Sunday mass and a middle of the night prayer (usually starting with a please let this baby sleep!)
My job is as an RE teacher in a Catholic school so my day was rooted in prayer - morning, grace, afternoon, and after school mass so it feels like there’s been a huge drop.
How do you keep focused in faith with the distraction of a newborn, and when you are distracted how do you bring it back!?
Tia x
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I’ve made it part of our routine. We get up eat breakfast then I sit little on beside me or let her play independently while I watch mass. Is it always the most focused thing, absolutely not but it al least helps me feel centered. I also just always have something playing in the background such as the rosary or divine mercy and as me and little one are going about the day I found myself praying sometime without realizing. God picked you for this season for a reason he’s walking right beside you.
I love a podcast in the morning and this one is a favorite during Lent.
https://open.spotify.com/show/3GzU6CoBoew54wmTezaTnS?si=sAylyaWEQ4K4qpZZIxVEDg
I also really like Godsplaining, especially episodes with Fr. Joseph Anthony
Its easy to throw on meaningless podcasts, even doom scroll, but these help me start my days intentionally! The fr. Mike podcasts are okay, but feel a bit fake at times.
Aww I feel this so much! It’s hard to feel focused on your faith when you’re so tired and overwhelmed and kept so busy by the needs of a brand new baby (is this your first?)
The nice thing about newborns is that you spend a lot of time sitting with them to nurse them (though that may be seen as a mixed blessing 😆), and you can use those regular times to say a quick prayer or set of prayers, read a Psalm or Bible passage, or even listen to a sermon if your baby likes to fall asleep on you for awhile like mine does. You could use, say, the first nursing session of the morning for this purpose, or multiple sessions a day if you want. You could read or pray aloud so you get the added benefit of baby getting to listen to your voice (and getting to be immersed in the Word!)
It doesn’t have to be more than a quick session, and it doesn’t matter if your brain feels too fried to get much out of it (mine often does). The Holy Spirit still works through the Word whenever you hear it/read it 🙂.
I feel this so personally. I really struggled too. I'm not sure who told me this, but it helped me immensely: being a mother is a form of prayer. Changing a diaper, nursing, burping, laughing with baby....all of it. You're living out your vocation of motherhood. It's a prayer.
It gave me peace of mind in the newborn trenches. There were definitely days when I was so out of it and overwhelmed that I completely forgot my daily prayers, but knowing that I was making a prayer out of motherhood helped. And I was able to use it to get back into my routine.
Praying for you, Mama! 🙏
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