Growing Closer to God through Parenting (with Lindsay Schlegel)

Author Lindsay Schlegel joins us this week for a show where we discuss how parenting can help us grow closer to God. That is the theme of Lindsay’s book, [Don’t Forget to Say Thank You: And Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God](https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Forget-Say-Thank-CatholicMom-com/dp/1594718091/ref=sr11?crid=3QCGKARKIO9VS&keywords=don%27t+forget+to+say+thank+you&qid=1565968942&s=gateway&sprefix=don%27t+forget+to+say+%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-1). You can learn more about Lindsay and her work at her website, LindsaySchlegel.com. Also, look for a new podcast Lindsay will be launching very soon, called Quote Me. I also share feedback from listener Ann-Marie who shared pictures of her Mary garden and a Litany of Kindness that she wrote. Check out her prayer below. Snippet from the Show “All of the things we want for our kids, God wants for us in an even more perfect way.” SHOWNOTES LITANY OF KINDNESS . . . When I meet with those I have an aversion towards, Jesus help me to choose kindness. When I compose bitter responses to others, Jesus help me silence my thoughts and turn to your heart. When I am tempted to bear a grudge, Help me see myself as I am: a pouting, childish weakling. When I am tempted to be envious of others, Help me be thankful and content with the many gifts you’ve given me. When I am tempted to judge another by their outward actions, Remind me I know not of her motives. When I find myself in a difficult situation, Help me to lovingly accept whatever you send into my life. When I am impatient and angered by those around me, Jesus, deflate my pride and help me choose humility. When there is a lack of trust in a relationship, Help me not to be suspicious of him/her, but to turn my thoughts to you. When I am given to over sensitivity, Help me avoid brooding over real or imagined slights. When I am with an overly sensitive person, Help me choose to exercise patience and charity. When I am self seeking and full of pride, Help me remember and consider my own sins. When I perform a kind deed, Help me offer it to you and not dwell or boast about it. When I perform little actions of consideration, Help me remember that God sees my sacrifice and is pleased. When I have pain, sorrow and suffering, Help me hide it in You, and be kind and cheerful to others. When I am irritated by those around me, Help me bear their burdens, as Christ bears mine. When I am frustrated by another, Help me to love them because I love Christ in them. When I am tired and discouraged, Help me choose to carry out my vocation as helper. When I am contentious and find fault with others, Help me cultivate an agreement as it is not all about me. Give me the grace to offer you a heart free from resentment, And the strength to pray for those who have hurt me. Train my eyes to be kind, recognizing faults, but seeing past them for love of you, Jesus. For all I see and hear, give me the grace to put on a kind interpretation, Which will help destroy the bitterness of my judgments. Help me forgo some trifling right, bear offenses, and renounce having the last word, So that I cultivate kind thoughts in my heart instead of an argument. To give joy to others, I must have it myself. Help me possess simple loving thoughts to dispel the clouds of depression, as you are the source of all joy. When I am weary and know not what to do, remind me that my vocation is to put on love and do my own tasks well. When trying to cooperate with others, help me put aside my own views when justice is not violated, in deference to those of others. Give me the grace of heroic self denial. In all occasions, around all people, remind me that I am not bound to speak out at all. Kindness, good will, charity, and forgiveness may run directly contrary to my feelings and inclinations—help me do them anyway. The obligation to undo the hurt caused by my unkind words does not disappear by my ignoring it. Help me to silence my overgrown sense of curiosity and resist the urge to give unsolicited advice. Help me to never say behind a person’s back what I would not say to his/her face, and to mind my own business. Help me remember that harsh words cause wounds that are hard to heal, and that the best remedy to angry words is silence. When I observe human weakness and am tempted to be sarcastic, remind me it does not glorify God. Remind me that destructive criticism is foolish and futile, and that it says more about me than the person I criticize. Help me always look for the good in the world and in your children and speak of it frequently. When I am wrong, help me admit it quickly and emphatically. Remind me that kindness and warm responses help people far more than anger and harsh words. Help me be receptive to the hurt feelings of others, and to swallow my hurt feelings and my vanity to avoid a quarrel. Please help me exercise love and the right of charity. Help me learn to be silent—to avoid sin, to safeguard virtue, and to grow in union with God. Assist me in holding my tongue to hold my peace. Remind me that a perfectly adjusted tongue always runs slower than my mind. Jesus, give me the grace of your wisdom to know when and what to say at the right time. Help me pray before correcting others, and remember that unless it springs from charity it cannot be justified before God. When I am corrected, help me accept it graciously, and cheerfully, and to give it consideration. Help me choose kindness since there is no substitute for charity. Help me spread joy by praising my neighbor which is an act of charity. May my words be kind, to spread the peace of Christ, which blesses me first. Give me your grace to be a kind listener and to humbly deny myself by being genuinely interested in others. Help my charity to be strong, energetic, and abundant—nourished by a vigorous spiritual life. Remind me to give of what I have, after all, it is not really mine. Amen.