Want a quick hit of inspiration?
Think:
“Love! love! love! my daughters; I know nothing else.”  – St. Jane Frances de Chantal  Pray: God, help me to bring your love to everyone I meet today. Let all that I think, speak, and do be rooted in the eternal love that comes only from you.  Act: Remember we are called to love others, even when we don’t “like” them. Make a mental list of people you have trouble loving. Add their intentions to your prayer list for this month.  This is an excerpt from August, which has a theme of “Charity.” ÂIf you liked what you read above, Small Steps for Catholic Moms by Danielle Bean and Elizabeth Foss is the book for you.
First of all, you have to love the concept: it’s a mom-centered daily devotional where every day offers you an inspiring quotation, a short prayer, and a related action. Â As you see in the excerpt above, it takes about a minute to read the entry, meaning this is one book that moms actually have a prayer of finishing. Â Sometimes — as they say — less is more.
In fact, ever since the kind folks at Ave Maria Press sent me a copy, I’ve been reading each entry over my morning coffee.  And yes, it does make my day  better.  The mere fact of having a specific action in mind for the day makes me more intentional about how I interact with others.  It makes me more aware of the little opportunities for love and kindness and charity and grace that exist in the course of a mom’s day — even a day where I feel like I barely have time to catch my breath.
I like books like that.
And guess what?  I’m going to share the love!  Thanks to Ave Maria, I have a copy to give away, too.  To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below.  Entries will be open through next Sunday, October 13th.
 (Oh, and if you like contests and winning cool books, you won’t want to miss the CatholicMom.com Five Minutes Alone contest.)  But don’t forget to leave a comment here first! Â
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