Mother's Day Prayer

Today we hold mothers everywhere in our hearts. Each of us approaches this day with our own unique mix of celebration of life and love and also recognition of imperfections. We have profound gratitude for the good and hope to release ourselves from attachment to the rest.

We lift up those for whom this day is painful because of memories or current realities. Unhappiness comes in many guises. May we allow people who are feeling pain today space that honors their reality and compassion for realities that some of us may recognize and others of us can hardly imagine.

We lift into our consciousness mothers who need more from us than just our good will:

• Mothers of children in violence-ridden neighborhoods;
• Mothers who depend on food pantries and soup kitchens to feed their children;
• Mothers whose homes have been destroyed by recent tornadoes and floods;
• And mothers whose families face many other needs and challenges.

May we express our compassion by helping these mothers get food for their children and justice for their families.

May we work for the healing of all painful experiences of motherhood.

Today we remember mothers at every stage along their journey.

We hold in our hearts mothers of young children, in the hope that they may nurture and raise their children to be good and faithful people in the world.

We hold in our hearts mothers of older children, in the hope that they may have the wisdom to know when to help their children hang on to their roots and when to spread their wings.

We hold in our hearts mothers of grown children, in the hope that they may feel satisfaction in a job well done.

We recognize that there are many paths of motherhood. Some mothers are only able to give life. Some are only able to nurture life.

For all the good experiences of motherhood, we are filled with gratitude.

We bless all mothers among us here today, recognizing each one for the special gifts she brings or has brought to her unique challenges and opportunities. We bless you who have given so much of yourselves for the good of your children and the benefit of our community.

Amen and Blessed Be.


NOTE: This prayer was inspired by last year's "Mother's Day Prayer" by the Rev. Joelle Colville-Hanson, a small-town ELCA minister in Iowa. The three stages of motherhood follow her prayer closely. The rest is an adaptation in my own words of the ideas informing her prayer.