This was originally posted at In the Heart of My Home by Elizabeth Foss March 14, 2007. She has generously opened her archives for Suscipio.
O Lord and Ruler of Life, take from me the spirit of idleness, despair, cupidity, and empty talking. Yea, O Lord grant that I may see my own sins and not judge my brother. For thou art blessed forever and ever. Amen.
This ancient Lenten prayer has been posted around my house this year. I’ve found it to be a good one over the long haul. At first, I read it and thought it a nice prayer, easy to memorize and entirely usable for Lent. Then, it began to seep into me.
Take from me the spirit of idleness, despair, cupidity, and empty talking. Idleness? Dear Lord, I have eight children who still live at home and are all still homeschooled (except for the infant who is attached to me twenty-four hours a day). How in the world can I be idle? Ah, but I can and I am. When I sit at the computer and mindlessly click away while I nurse the baby, I am idling my brain and, more importantly, my spirit. After a few weeks of praying this prayer, I have found myself whitttling my Bloglines down to only what I could manage in a fifteen minute sitting first thing in the morning. I promised myself I would not go back and check during the day. I lived without blogs entirely just a short year ago. I’m sure this own’t kill me.
I’m spending that nursing time with one of the spiritual books I chose just for Lent or in the quiet of my room, rocking with a rosary, or next to a couple of children on the couch, reading them a good book. Yes, please, take from me the idleness. Take it and don’t let it creep back in.
What about despair? Honestly, I don’t often feel very despairing. But I’ve noticed it in my household. The spirit is here. This prayer is for my children—particularly my teenagers—who are all too often held captive by feelings of despair.
Cupidity is a desire, usually for things. For me, the Lenten discipline is to take good care of the things I have, to be very careful with home maintenance. I don’t desire things but I also don’t outwardly appreciate what I have the way I should. This is a great big house, with lots of people in it and lots of people have lots of “stuff.” There is no excuse for it to be poorly tended. I have been given much and much is expected. I do not desire more; I desire to do more with what I have. I had a very honest talk with a dear friend yesterday. We went step by step through the realities of my day to try to find time to ensure that my home is good witness for this lifestyle. I will not desire more, but I will desire to do well with the abundance I have.
And empty talking. This really is why I was drawn to this particular prayer. There was a time when women at home were drawn to chatting away over the backyard fence or meeting each other for coffee in a restaurant or wiling away the hours attached to a telephone with an extra long cord. These are not my temptations. I have no fence, I no longer drink coffee and I’m not all that fond of the phone. No, my temptation is captured in a screen. Lord, save me from email and message boards. Save me from hours and hours of philosophical and theological conversations that actually draw me away from You and lead me outside your will.
I cannot live my vocation if my time is taken with idleness and empty talking. Even talking about motherhood, homemaking, and God himself can be empty talking if I talk (or write) about it and I neglect to do it. Time on earth is finite. The days of childhood are numbered. Distracted mothers are a curse to their children.
There is a place for online support and fellowship. It serves a purpose and can be a blessing. I love friends I have made online and I count them among my blessings and my joys. Online conversations and blogs can inspire us to lives of holiness. They often do just that; they show us how to be better wives, better mothers, better teachers, better Christians.
But I also think that the devil drives the information superhighway. He claps with glee when moms log on. Lent is a time of discipline. Ascetism is about growing in self-discipline. This prayer helps me to see how I must order my time and my attention. Quiet stillness is a good thing. Idleness is not. Concern is a good thing. Despair is not. A home to grow in is a good thing. Chaos in that home is not. Encouragement and support in my vocation is a good thing. Empty talking is not.
Layer by layer, we peel away the things that stand between ourselves and godliness. We make more time for and pay more attention to the good things. And we leave behind those things that are not.
O Lord and Ruler of Life, take from me the spirit of idleness, despair, cupidity, and empty talking. Yea, O Lord grant that I may see my own sins and not judge my brother. For thou art blessed forever and ever. Amen
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This post hits so close to home wow,,, Theresa you are so right, guess I really need to take a closer look at myself. Elizabeth, thank you for this post and making me look inside myself..
God Bless you
I,too, spend too much idle time on the internet. I visit blogs and websites and forums. I don’t have any friends in real life … I have not met anyone who is a housewife and homeschools or homeschooled their children. We’ve lived in a small community for 14 years and I am a definite outsider as all the other moms work outside jobs and all the kids are in public school. I know that I should refrain from spending much time online … but as other’s have said, it has become my lifeline to a semblence of a social life…although even online I don’t have any “friends.” I just like to read other people’s blog posts, columns and forum conversations. I guess that’s pretty sad
…
I’m a distracted mom even though my children are no longer home. I honestly don’t think I have enough followers who would even know the I was gone from blogging, but it has definitively been a challenge in terms of distraction. I’m just not sure I know what the Lord is asking me yet.
Very thought provoking post…Thanks Elizabeth. +
Thank you for this lovely prayer and inspiring post. I too three weeks off from blogging and other computer time. Today I am back and this is the first thing I read. Very timely.
God gave me a wonderful thing to do during Lent – dishes! My dishwasher broke and reading another post of Elizabeth’s the other day stuck with me, that sometimes what we are given for Lent is way better than something we would have chosen on our own. This post really hits home – all the time I throw my time away reading on the computer, clicking from here to here…time that could be spent doing my dishes, folding the piles of laundry, snuggled up reading to my little one.
Love the idea of narrowing down the # of blogs I read, I can only take in so much before like you Theresa, it all just becomes so distracting from what it is important!
Wow! Providentially good timing of this post in my life. Amen!
“Distracted mothers are a curse to their children.” This phrase will stay with me throughout the day and hopefully much longer. I have been mulling over what to do about blogging during Lent and this is a challenging post for me to read today. Thank you.
Whoa! That phrase jumped out at me too. I can even transpose wife and husband in that phrase: Distracted wives are a curse to their husbands!
**Even talking about motherhood, homemaking, and God himself can be empty talking if I talk (or write) about it and I neglect to do it. The days of childhood are numbered. Distracted mothers are a curse to their children.**
HOW PROVIDENTIAL!!
This post really put into words the struggle I have had with blogging, balance and distraction. I AM the distracted mother. It took over a year of discernment, but I ended up closing my blog because I am so easily distracted…by everything. I have to keep in check my emailing, my homeschool groups (which I whittled down to three), and the blogs I follow (also whittled down drastically).
**The devil claps his hands when moms log on**.
Boy, that thought will be foremost in my mind this Lent.
**Layer by layer, we peel away the things that stand between ourselves and godliness. We make more time for and pay more attention to the good things. And we leave behind those things that are not.**
The main reason I walked away from blogging and extra computer activity. It was coming between me and God…a distraction…an attachment…time that could be spent in prayer…and with family.
Thanks, Elizabeth, for a wonderful thought provoking post.