Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Mother's Day Prayer


 Mother's Day can be fraught with *stuff*~ none of which Ann Jarvis had in mind when she thought of this day.

This is a Mothers Day prayer I wrote several years ago and use every year.  Many have expressed appreciation for it

We pray for Mothers everywhere….

For mothers of young children that they may nurture 
    and raise their children to be good and faithful people in the world.

For mothers of older children that they may have the wisdom 
    to know when to help their children hang on to their roots
        and when to spread their wings.

For mothers of grown children that they may feel satisfaction in a job well done.

On this day we remember mothers of children in war-torn countries
        mothers of children where disaster or famine has struck
        and mothers who fear for their children’s safety 
           that they may find food for their children
           justice for their families 
              and peace for their souls.

We also lift up those for whom this day is painful
         mothers whose children are missing
         mothers whose children have died
         mothers who have lost children to miscarriage
         mothers who have had abortions
         mothers who have lost custody of their children
         and mothers whose children have disappointed them. 

We pray for those who wish to have children but have none 
    that they may be filled by God.

We pray, too, for all motherless children
       children whose mothers have abused or abandoned them 
        and for all those whose mothers have recently died.

For all the good experiences of motherhood, we thank and praise you Lord.
We lift up to you for healing all the painful experiences of motherhood.


Amen

Note - I am sharing this so that you can use it if you like - if it's printed out then you should use my name but if you just pray it I don't need any credit.  Also you can change, add stuff to it, use it to boost your creative juices to write your own...whatever.  I very much believe in respecting other people's intellectual property HOWEVER i do think it's good for us to share creatively and maybe give each other permission to bounce ideas off each other without being so concerned that every idea has someone's name on it.

13 comments:

  1. I like it. I think I'll use it if that's all right. I will give you credit for writing it.

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  2. I shared it for people to use and you don't have to give me credit..

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  3. Thanks Joelle. May I use this in worship on Sunday..giving full credit to you as author?

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  4. Thanks for sharing this beautiful prayer.

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  5. Lovely and heartfelt. I do think about the mothers of those who fight, even those who fight for "the enemy." They hurt too.

    And once, I sat in church on Mothers day, two days after miscarrying. Hard.

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  6. In the UK, we celebrate Mothers' Day on Mothering Sunday, in mid-Lent.

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  7. Joelle, thank you for your Mother's day prayer. I did adapt it for my particular context, but the corpus of the pray is fully in tact. You have blessed me and I'm sure your prayer will speak to my parishioners at the intersection of their joy and their pain. Peace be with you.

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  8. Beautiful prayer worth sharing.

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  9. Joelle, thank you so much for sharing a work that is both poignant and sensitive -- I believe it will help me honor the day and all women, while avoiding the schmaltz and hazards.

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  10. thanks for your prayer- we have used it in worship here in Canada-and are very thankful for it's impact!

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  11. Thank you for this beautiful prayer.

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  12. Thank you Joelle, I will pray this prayer on our Special Mother's Day Saturday Morning Show for the listener's of 92.3fm based in Mareeba, Far Nth.Queensland, Australia. The station is a Christian Community Radio, many thanks for giving your permission to use this prayer, many of our listeners Christian or not will relate to this one.

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