Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day Prayer

Spirit of Life, Mother of us all,
You who arise in each moment as the desire to nurture new life and growth:

On this Mother’s Day, we pray for the health and wellbeing of all mothers.
We pray that mothers get to choose when to be mothers
and how many times over, and with what spacing in between.

We pray that the work of mothers to become mothers be honored:
the conception, the pregnancy, the hard labor, the birth,
or the fostering or the adoption.

We pray that the nurturing work of mothers of all genders be honored:

The nursing the feeding the care the changing of diapers the exhausted vigil at the sick child’s bedside the endless walking back and forth with the colicky baby the tantrums the teaching the learning the hoping the washing the endless rounds of cooking and cleaning up the conversations about safety and sex the waiting up until the teenager is safely home the repetition of messages over and over again in hopes that something goes in…

We pray that all this nurturing work be honored by ending all forms of violence against mothers and children: bullying, domestic violence, gun violence, rape, shootings by police, unjust imprisonment, poverty, war, pollution, destruction of the ecosystems that sustain our lives.

We pray that all this nurturing work be honored by allowing every single child to grow up healthy, with food enough and clothing, shelter, medicine, safety, education, beauty, and opportunities for meaningful work.

Spirit of life, we ask you to move in us as love and care for all mothers and all children. May we honor not only our own mother but the work of all who nurture life everywhere. May we dedicate ourselves to the flourishing of all beings on this, our great Mother, Earth.

In Your many names, we pray.

Blessed be.

A Mother’s Day Prayer

Spirit of Life, moving source of all we know:

Now is the time when lush green leaves
clothe the oak trees,
Grosbeaks fill the forests
with exuberant song,
dogwoods lift their extravagant blossoms
to the sun,
and children race each other
to the swings.
It is high spring,
a time of glorious beauty.

And yet, as always,
there is pain here.
Even as we celebrate Mother’s Day,
our government is keeping the children
of brown mothers
in cages.

Even as we celebrate Mother’s Day,
black and brown mothers
weep from fear
that their children will not come home
because they have been shot by police.

Even as we celebrate Mother’s Day,
the children of all mothers
are endangered by climate change.

The irony is too much to bear.

Spirit of Life, Source of all love:

Springtime shows us
how much beauty the world offers:
the songs of birds
the colors of flowers
the faces of children.

Each is beautiful
alone
but they are even more so
together
because of the
differences
between them.

Help us be thankful for all this beauty
Help us love the differences

Help us act from our thanks and our love.

Help us act.
Help us act.
Help us act.

Blessed be.

A Mother’s Day Prayer

Spirit of Life, Mother of us all,
You who arise in our hearts as the impulse
to nurture new life and growth:

On this Mother’s Day we pray for the health of all mothers.
We pray that mothers get to choose when to be mothers
and how many times over, and with what spacing in between.
We pray that the work of mothers to become mothers be honored:
the conception, the pregnancy, the hard labor, the birth,
or the fostering or the adoption.

We pray that the nurturing work of mothers and other parents be honored: the nursing the feeding the care the changing of diapers the exhausted vigil at the bedside of the sick child the endless walking back and forth with the colicky baby the tantrums the teaching the learning the hoping the washing the cooking the cleaning up after the conversations about safety and sex the waiting up until the teenager is safely home the repetition of messages over and over again in hopes that something goes in.

We pray that all this nurturing work be honored by allowing every single child to grow up healthy, with plenty of love, good food and water, clean air, clothing, shelter, medicine, safety, education, beauty, joy, companionship, and meaningful work.

We pray that all this nurturing be honored by ending all forms of violence against mothers and children: bullying, domestic violence, gun violence, rape, shootings by police, unjust imprisonment, poverty, war, pollution, destruction of the ecosystems that sustain our lives.

Spirit of Life, on this Mother’s Day we ask you to move in us as love and care for all mothers and all children. Help us to honor not only our own mothers but the work of all who nurture life everywhere. Help us dedicate ourselves to the flourishing of all beings on this, our great Mother, Earth.

In Your many names, we pray.

Amen. Blessed be.

Mother’s Day Prayer

Spirit of Life, Source of all Love:

We try so hard.

We try so hard to do what is right by our children,
and we so often seem to get it wrong.

And we want so much from our mothers,
and they so often cannot meet our needs.

May we be reconciled.

May we look into one another’s eyes
and see Your love there,
shining.

May we hear You speak,
in the voice of the wind and the water,
whispering:

You are my own precious child
and I love you.

Mother of us all,
we thank you for our lives.

Blessed be.