Lent Day 17

Fast: As you go about your daily round 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.

Pray: “Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender.” — St. Therese

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
Do something they want you to do with them today.

Lent Day 15

Fast: Don’t argue today. As much as possible give up, give in, give way.

Pray: Ask God to show you how weak and small you are. Open your heart to see it.

Give: When you are tempted to put on kid TV today, pull out a stack of favorite picture books instead. Invite the kids to join you on the couch.

Lent Day 14

Fast:Every time a child interrupts you today, stop what you are doing and look into his eyes as he talks.

Pray: “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow

me.

—John 10:27

Give: “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa

Speak kindly all day long.

Lent Day 13

Fast: Rememberthe first time you had a moment alone with your first child. What did you promise him? Do that. Be that.

Pray: Begin a gratitude journal. At the end of the day, jot down five things for which you are grateful. Think upon these things.

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.

Lent Day 12

Fast: Nonoise today. Turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod. Find God in the silence.

Pray: Make five minutes in the morning, at middady and in the evening to be still, silent, and alone, only asking God to infuse your soul with His will.

Give: Pay particular unsolicited attention to your least demanding child today.