The Baptism of the Lord
Openness to the Holy Spirit
Raising His Children
by Angela Coffey
When first reading that the fruit of this mystery, The Baptism in the Jordan, was Openness to the Holy Spirit, I immediately thought, how apropos!
As a mother of four children 4 and under who needs to constantly navigate small, seemingly unimportant, in the moment decisions regarding my kids, openness to the Holy Spirit speaks right to my motherly heart.
Through my faith journey I started to realize how I, along with my husband, are responsible for making every single decision for our children, both big (their education) and small (how much ice cream they can have). It can be daunting!
With the desire to make wise decisions and keeping in mind the individuality of each of my children, I have learned to pray about pretty much everything. In doing so, I look to the Bible seeking for the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of God in these decisions, through His word. I have begun to pray for wisdom to understand what God is telling me in His word, and for my heart to be open to His will alone for my family. For in raising my children, I’m raising His children.
The desire to steward our children’s lives and co-parent alongside God comes with a willingness to let the Holy Spirit guide us in everything we do regarding our children.
Angela Coffey
It is true that, through the gift of baptism, we receive fruits of the Holy Spirit. Personally, however, I have failed to take full advantage of these gifts. It is only in becoming a mother that my faith journey, through God’s grace, has really started to reach a more profound level. It stems from my longing to steward my children along the path of Christ, despite my human flaws.
And so, this naturally has led me to remember that the Holy Spirit exists and that he can bestow upon me the gifts of wisdom to pray about my children’s lives and pray about the various decisions I make for them. Having the Holy Spirit more present in me has moved my heart to open up the Bible to ask for God’s word to help in my decision making.
Recently we signed our four-year-old up for soccer. He trains twice a week and has a game every weekend. In the beginning, he was very excited, but a month later, he is now tired after a day at school then practice.
I discussed with my husband how we failed to pray about it being the right decision for him, and in failing to pray before signing him up we are now praying about making the decision as to 1) teach him strength in doing what he does not always feel like doing or 2) realize that maybe we made a mistake in signing him up so young.
My husband and I are constantly striving to remember to pray about our children’s lives and making the right decisions for each of them, but we are still learning and sometimes will still make wrong decisions. When this happens, we take it to prayer and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom to right any wrongs in the best way possible.
The desire to steward our children’s lives and co-parent alongside God comes with a willingness to let the Holy Spirit guide us in everything we do regarding our children.
I pray for all moms to have an open heart and desire to turn to God’s word for guidance, through the Holy Spirit, in fulfilling God’s holy plan for our children.
About Angela: I am an American who married a Spaniard and is raising our family of 6 in Spain. I am mother to four small children, my first vocation and passion. I also have a YouTube channel called “Marian Motherhood “ where I talk about all things motherhood and family related in light of my Catholic faith.
@marian_motherhood on Instagram and YouTube Marian Motherhood
Motherhood Through the Mysteries 