I know Mother's Day is over but I was so blessed by this I wanted to share it. My friend Lisa, from Minnesota sent this to me. Lisa said to imagine it being read very slowly, each word distinct and purposefully chosen. I hope it speaks to your heart as it did mine. I'd love to hear how this impacts you.
I hope your week has been beauty-filled.
Ciao.
Mary’s Mother’s Day Blessing by Mary Martin Wiens
I am the mother of three little boys ages three and under. I am also a woman who struggled with many years of infertility. During that time of suffering and waiting, the invitation that I heard from God was to become a mother in my spirit with no guarantee that there would ever be children from my body. Because of that invitation, I began to see that there are many ways to give birth, to give life, and to nurture life. So, as I pondered what kind of blessing to offer today, it felt important to honor the mother I was before children, the mother I am now, and the many women I know who mother in both traditional and untraditional ways. I have seen friends do the work of a mother by giving birth a book, by giving medical advice, by teaching, by standing up for justice, by laying hands on others in prayer, by listening. Just to name a few.
So, today I want to bless each of you women who sacrifice so that life can come through you to another. I invite you to let in whichever of these words seem to be for you and let go of whatever is not for you…Now, mothers, receive this blessing…
Mothers of children
Mothers of adults
Mothers to ailing parents
Mothers in spirit
Mothers of creative works
Mothers to those in need
Mothers with empty wombs
Mothers whose arms ache to be filled with one who once was there
You life givers and life nurturers
You who hold the small essential things that make a world
You who are the sole witness to private stories unfolding
You who are the ground on which others find their footing
You who respond to cries of hunger, heartache, fear, or pain
You who shelter growing things
You whose most significant work is unseen
You bringers of tenderness and comfort
To mother is to make oneself vulnerable to loss
To give oneself wholly to something that has the guarantee of at least a measure of failure
To give birth to something beyond you, that doesn’t belong to you, that you can’t control
To engage in a work that reveals both your best and your worst
To surrender your time, your body, your rhythms, your resources
For the joy set before you
So Mothers,
May God the Life Giving Spirit be your source
May God be both witness and companion to all the unseen moments of your life
May God preserve you at your core when the needs of others threaten to wash you away
May God give grace as you seek to unwind the knot of both founded and unfounded guilt and enable you to bring healing in places where you have brought harm
May God give you courage at thresholds of change
May God make of your emptiness a wide and free place
May the One who holds all things together, assure you that divine arms surround all that is beyond your reach
And, When you lift up your eyes to see your life, may your joy be great.
