On Being the Mother of a Boy

Found these two poems/prayers today while working on a bookmark for the St. X MOMs Club:

Nobody knows what a boy is worth, 

and the world must wait and see; 

for every man in an honored place, 

is a boy that used to be.

-Phillips Brooks

   

And I love this prayer...

Build me a son, O Lord, 
who will be strong enough to know when he is weak 

and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid;

Who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat 
and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son, O Lord, 
whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; 
my son, who will know Thee, 
who is the foundation stone, of knowledge. 
Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease 
but under the stress and spur 
of difficulties and challenge.

Here, let him learn to stand up to the storm. 
Here, let him learn compassion for those who fall. 
Build me a son, whose heart will be clear, 
whose goals will be high; 
a son who will master himself  
before he seeks to master other men, 
who will reach into the future, 
yet never forget his past.

And after all these things are his, 
add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor 
so that he may always be serious 
but never take himself too seriously. 
Give him humility so that he will

always remember 
the simplicity of true greatness 
and an open mind of true wisdom 
and the meekness of true strength.

Then I his mother will dare to whisper, 
I have not lived in vain. 

---Unknown

quoted by General Douglass McArthur