Please give me longsuffering, God, so I can smile when things don’t go my way.

Please grant me serenity, God, to accept the things I can’t change but seriously to change the things I need to.

Please give me humility, God, so I never argue with a chip on my shoulder.

Please grant me fun-dad-ness, so I can wrestle with the little guy even after a long day.

Please give me a new spirit, God, so I can choose to engage instead of detaching and burying myself in tasks.

Please grant me wisdom, God, so I can know how to react when a blowup happens in public.

Please give me the love, God, to support my wife and give her the support she needs without selfish but-what-about-me -isms.

Please grant me the patience (did I say that already?), to make it through bedtime without losing my mind and read the same story for the seven millionth time.

Please give me eyes, God, to look into my little guy’s eyes and see into his soul.

Please grant me the ears, God, to hear what he’s actually saying when he’s talking nonsense.

Please give me the willingness, God, to be grown and matured, however reluctantly.