A Prayer for Strength as a Single Parent

Father, it is late again, and I am the only grown-up in this house. I packed the lunches and paid what I could and answered the hard questions, and there is no one to hand the weight to when the day is done.

I confess I am scared I am not enough, that I will miss something my children needed, that one pair of hands cannot hold all of this. The loneliness of doing it alone is its own kind of ache.

So I bring this whole household to You, the Father to the fatherless and the defender of the weary. I cannot be two parents, but I can bring You into the gaps where I fall short.

Be the strength in my back when I lift more than I should. Be the patience I run out of by evening. Cover my children with a love that does not depend on me being perfect.

You promised to be a father to the fatherless and a defender of those who have no one. Stand in the spaces I cannot fill.

Tomorrow I will rise and do it again, but not alone, because You go before me into every long day. Amen.