This poem got me through an awful lot of bad days in the hospital, surgery, after surgery, after surgery. I wish I knew who wrote it, so I could give them a hug and my sincerest thanks.

Dear God
Give me the strength to be present at my child's pain.
Help me have faith in his competence.
Help me to be honest with him.
Help me to convey the confidence I have in him.
Spare me the necessity of using force.
Keep me from denying or minimizing what he is experiencing.
Don't let me make my pain more important than his.
Don't let me abandon him in any way because of my own fear and weakness.
Don't let me be overpowered by my frustration and feelings of helplessness.
Remind me that pain is survivable.
Remind me that he knows I would not permit this if it were not necessary.
Help me to bear my suffering with strength, dignity, and honesty and so provide an example that will calm and reassure him.
Remind me that my touch, my smell, my presence are all to him.
Help me to stay here by his bedside.
Amen.

(Author unknown)

Read more...