Here is a wonderful post from my “hero,” Danielle Bean, on how she incorporates prayer into her busy life with 8 children.
I often get asked as well, “how do you do it?” [meaning, of course, how do you raise 6 kids] Simple answer: I pray for grace. I tell the Lord that I will fall flat on my face unless He helps me through this day. On days when I forget this simple step, the day spirals out of control quickly.
I leave my Bible and my calendar (with the daily readings) on the counter, and SOMETIME during the day I will be given some quiet moments alone in the kitchen. When that happens, I do the readings for the day. If it doesn’t happen, then I’ve asked the kids (the oldest being 9 and 7) to open their Bibles and read it to me as I am preparing lunch.
I wish I were better at getting up in the morning and reading before the day starts, but it just doesn’t happen. My time tends to be late at night, when the house is quiet and everyone (husband included) is sound asleep. Then I can curl up on the couch and read, read, read, and pray to the Lord about what I am reading.
I wish I had the opportunity for Adoration… or daily Mass… but at this stage it doesn’t happen either. That’s OK. Jesus knows what I want to be able to do, and perhaps that’s enough for now.
I am a Danielle Bean fan too. I like that idea of being flexible about prayer time, even doing readings on the fly!
It’s better than skipping them. I now have a rosary CD with Fr. Benedict Groeschel, another favorite of mine. I played it in the kitchen while cooking a meal after spending the entire day cooking for Thanksgiving. It got me through the last few grueling tasks.