The power of prayer

Yesterday was a tough day here. This was the 3rd time (in passed 3 months I think) when I felt I have no solution for Ilaria's crying. And I'm also not sure about the reason. It's so frustrating to try anything comes to my mind and still not be able to make her stop crying.

We were outside, far away from home. She was in the stroller when the tantrum begun. I've tried everything that crossed my mind those minutes: walking, running, back in the stroller, I offered her water, toys,... I've even ignored her.... Of course in the meantime I was getting angry too, not understanding at all what could have been so wrong with her.

Then she stopped in the middle of a not so crowded street, still crying. And I was looking her from a distance, talking to her, when a couple of old people approached. The woman took Ilaria up, on her arms and she brought Ilaria to me. Then she asked me: "What's wrong with her? She doesn't want to leave the park and go home, isn't it?". "No!" I've answered "We haven't been in the park at all. We are just walking around. I really don't know what she wants. She doesn't want to walk and she doesn't want to stay in the stroller either." Then, before leaving, the woman leaned to me as you do when you want to tell somebody a secret and she whispered in my ear: "Recite for her <<Our Father>>". And I did. Right there, in the middle of that street, with tears running down my cheeks. Of course part of them were tears of frustration, but there were also tears of gratitude for that beautiful woman who cared enough to give a good advice to an overwhelmed mother.

I'm not sure how much the prayer helped Ilaria directly, but for sure it helped me a lot to calm down and to see the situation from another perspective. I put her back in the stroller, started making her aware of all the doves, cats and dogs around us and gave her flowers and leaves to play with. And soon she calmed down too!

So yes, it's true: no song, no toy, no argument has the power of a prayer! All it takes is to believe.

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