Mothers Day is a day of joy for others, and a day of grief for others. For many, it lives in the complicated space where those two emotions meet. This prayer invites into the complexity of the day.
This Mothers Day, give thanks for loving wonderful mothers, who have given their children so many invaluable gifts.
Give thanks for new mothers, welcoming new life into the world.
Give thanks for those who choose their children, for adoptive and foster parents, who model the adoptive love of God.
Give thanks for aunts and godmothers and neighbors, who share maternal love with so many children; and for far too often overlooked stepmothers.
Give thanks for those who choose to remain without biological children, sharing love with the world in many ways.
Pray for the many mothers who have had to bear the unimaginable burden of burying a child, and those who have born the silent grief of stillbirth or miscarriage.
Pray for those who struggle with infertility, whose desire for a child is met with frustration.
Pray for the mothers of children with special needs and chronic illness, who know anxiety and exhaustion better than most.
Pray for those who were given abuse and heartbreak by the ones called to love them.
Pray for mothers who have made the difficult and loving decision to entrust a child to adoptive parents.
Pray for those whose mothers have died, who on this day celebrate and grieve their mother in her absence.
Amen.