A liturgy for: Adding Another Baby

God's power in your limited capacity

Liturgies for the Little Years: In this series, you’ll find words for the everyday experiences of raising young kids in prayer form. My hope is that these liturgies would bring a sense of sacredness, meaning and worship to the ordinary moments of daily life as a parent.

To my friends and family reading this - alert! alert! This is not a baby announcement! And now that that’s out of the way…

This liturgy was born out of my reflections from the experience of adding our second child to the family two years ago. If you are a mom who recently added another baby to the family or are expecting another, this is for you. I know the transition is one messy jumble of excitement and joy all wrapped up with anxiety and overwhelm.

Feeling the Guilt and Fear

I remember after I had my second, it was genuinely disorienting switching between a newborn diaper-change and a toddler’s. I would sometimes gently cradle my toddler’s head when I laid him down on the changing table, his confused expression promptly reminding me that this two year-old did indeed already have head-control unlike my newborn!

Besides adjusting to caring for two kids in two completely different stages with two different sets of needs, I think the guilt I felt those first several months was the hardest to bear. I desperately missed my oldest as others stepped in to help care for him while I was with the baby. I worried - Does my oldest feel neglected by me? Is this transition too much for him?

I remember reading a book to my oldest when the baby was just a few days old. It was a story about a little boy getting a new baby sister, and halfway through, there was a picture of the boy alone in his room with a sad expression on his face. The text read - "Mostly it’s exciting, though it may feel kind of strange.” I choked through sobs as I read, barely making it through the page. “Does this all feel kind of strange to you?” I meekly asked my son as I dabbed my eyes. My son quizzically looked up at me, smiled, and replied that no, it indeed did not. Apparently I was the one who needed the story book to help me process all the change…

A New Perspective

It’s a beautiful experience getting to welcome a new child into your family, and still, it is hard. Just like any growth in life, it is no painless experience to have our capacity grow and expand as moms. I know you’ve probably had countless people tell you that with each child, both you and your heart grow. And it’s true! But with this liturgy, my aim is to remind you not of what you are or will become but instead, of who God is. May the confrontation with our limited capacity move us to marvel at the inexhaustible capacity of our God! He is enough, and he will see us through.

A liturgy for: Adding Another Baby

This family is growing,
and I thank you, O God,
but with this gift of a new life
I find in my heart
joy mingled with fear.
Will I love this child just the same?
Is there enough of me to share?

In reflecting upon my capacity 
and its limitations,
here lies an invitation:
to behold afresh your love:
infinite,
unbounded,
its depths unplumbed - 
a heart with room for
all your children, 
from ages past
and years to come. 

O God, ocean of measureless mercies, 
breathe into me your life-giving power.
Expand my capacity.
Multiply my love. 
Alone I fall short; 
but with you
I’m enough. 

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