Managing stress around young children

Parents of young children, how are you managing your stress and using your faith as the economy sinks lower and lower? Here are three ideas that help my family on a day-to-day basis:

1. Pour in the good news first.

Every morning my husband and I wake up to the clock radio. Recently we realized that before we were even conscious, our brains were hearing bad news: "Stock market down"; "Thousands more job losses." It's always hard to wake up, but this was ridiculous. We talked about the percentage of negative news on the airwaves all around us and knew we had to counter it with good news (or sink into despair). Now we wake to a music CD and give each other a prayer or verse upon awakening. They don't call the gospel good news for nothing! Here are some verses to wake up to:

• "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

• "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well" (Psalm 139:14).

• "They were saying, 'The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!' Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread" (Luke 24: 34-35).

2. Angel, I need you!

At Christmastime the stories of angels speaking to Mary and Joseph and the shepherds spoke to me, "Be not afraid!" How I needed that message. I tried to put on such a brave face for my kids, not wanting them to worry about money and the future. One day when I was alone, I burst into tears. "I need you, angel; I need you, angel," I sobbed. Out of that experience I came away with a mantra that centers me: "I am afraid, but God is not." I repeat these words whenever the anxiety creeps too close. "I am afraid, but God is not." It's an honest truth, a witness of how this faith thing works.

3. Happiest and saddest prayers

The examen prayer has helped us in uncertain times. We practice this way of praying every night. Our family gathers around a candle and each person tells their happiest and saddest time of that day. The examen feels so magical because it helps us notice each day. One day doesn't just get swallowed up into another. We find out all kinds of things about one another and we see God at work in many ways. It's a bigger picture of God's world, where people rejoice and need help. At the end someone says, "God bless us in our happy times and light the way in our darkness."

Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, came up with the examen. His names for "happiest" and "saddest" were "consolations" and "desolations." You can do an examen for a day, a year, a job, a vacation, a life. Whatever you call it, however you use it, I can tell you this ... our kids love it enough to come and find us at bedtime and remind us to pray.

Our current challenging times, painful and frightening as they can be, will show us what God is made of and what God made us to be. We're God's children — God looks at us with that same look of love with which we gaze at our children. God sees our potential, our roots, our support system — even when we do not.

May we look for God now, and may our kids join the search.