Each morning, immediately upon discovering I’ve been blessed with another new day, it is my practice to greet the Lord, thank Him for the night just passed and ask for wisdom, courage and strength for the day ahead.

Musing over that prayer the other morning it struck me for the first time that I was asking for these three gifts in exactly the right order.

Strength without courage might have me using the strength to cause harm.

Courage alone might lead me into situations I couldn’t handle due to my weakness, or which I would have been wiser to simply avoid.

Only when we have the wisdom to discern our role in a circumstance are we ready to call upon the courage to step in. Only when wisdom and courage are ours do we need the strength to act.

This seems to apply especially on Mother’s Day. As a mother of three grown sons I can look back on times when I wish I’d had the proper combination and sequence of these three attributes.  My sons have made me proud in spite of my failings, thank the Lord, but what difficulties might we have been spared if only I’d known then what I know now?

In “The Hiding Place” Corrie ten Boom talks about the time her father used a train ticket to illustrate how God gives us what we need just when we need it and not before.

When I lift up my morning greeting to Him these days I modify my prayer for wisdom, courage and strength with the phrase, “in that order, as I need them,” trusting Him to provide, as He always does when I get my courage from relying upon His wisdom and His strength.

If you are a mother, or if you ever had a mother, I wish you a blessed Mother’s Day.