A Prayer For Mother's Day

For mothers who gave birth to children, for mothers who adopted their children, for women who became mothers by marrying into a family with children…for women who have been mothers for a long time and women who are celebrating their first mothers day…we pray.

For mothers to be, for mothers with multiple children, for mothers in committed relationships, for single mothers…we pray.

For mothers who are super creative and come up with wonderful ways to spend rainy days indoors…we pray.

For mothers who kiss the same boo-boo twenty times in one hour because that’s what their child needs…we pray.

For mothers who courageously sit in the passenger seat and teach their teenager how to drive…we pray.

For mothers who endlessly entertain their children on long car trips with stories, toys, and songs…we pray. 

For mothers who don’t find the oatmeal on their shirt from breakfast until later in the afternoon and instead of get frustrated or embarrassed, they just laugh because breakfast actually went well this morning…we pray.

For mothers of screaming children in the grocery stores…we pray.

For mothers who are cheerleaders, sideline coaches, waiting in the wings-stage moms…we pray.

For mothers who sing “wheels on the bus” and “puff the magic dragon” and make up their own silly songs to sing to and with their little ones as they dance around the house together…we pray.

For mothers who have run to the grocery store forty times already this week and yet the teenager just won’t stop eating everything in the house…we pray.

For mothers who feel like unappreciated taxi drivers…we pray.

For mothers who rub backs and necks and play with hair at bed time and those who long for the days when their children still wanted them that close…we pray.

For mothers who stay up until well after midnight helping their children with the math homework or whatever the hell kind of homework it is and who cares because it’s too damn late for this…we pray.

For mothers who have already seen the movie Frozen twenty-two times this month…keeping in mind that the month isn’t even half over…we pray.

For mothers of children in away in foreign lands to study abroad, for mothers of children who live hundreds of miles away, for mothers of children who serve in the military…we pray.

For mothers who have just recently become empty-nesters and those whose children might live with them forever…we pray.

For mothers who sit quietly and anxiously in NICUs, by hospital beds, in emergency rooms, and in urgent care centers, who wish so desperately that the love in their heart could simply make their child well…we pray.

For mothers whose patience is running out and yet they still manage to take a deep breath before loosing their temper…we pray.

For mothers who are tired from working a full-time job or multiple jobs and then being up late at night with a sleepless child, but are mostly tired of being told they look tired…we pray.

For mothers who will do anything to help their children study for an AP Biology exam: including, but not limited to, dancing around the kitchen to act out the life cycle of malaria…we pray.

For mothers who are navigating the dating world following the death or divorce of a spouse or life-partner…we pray.

For Mothers who find themselves pregnant yet again and then endure the teasing of “don’t you know how it happens?” and the mothers who long to be pregnant again and for whatever reason it just isn’t happening…we pray.

For mothers who thought they were in a relationship where they would have support in their role as a parent and now find themselves in a one-sided relationship where there is no common support for children…we pray

For mothers who are working multiple jobs, worried about health-coverage, and just barely able to support their children through the help of family and friends and government assistance…we pray.

For mothers who are incarcerated or are on probation and for the mothers who work for justice and peace…we pray.

For mothers who have limited capacities, poor resources, and minimal support systems…we pray.

For mothers who make bad decisions; both large and small…we pray.

For mothers who struggle with addictions and mental health issues…we pray.

For those who were abused by their mothers…we pray.

For those who never knew or trusted their mothers…we pray.

For the birthmothers who have the courage and the wisdom to know that they cannot take care of another human being at this point in their lives so they give their child up for adoption…we pray.

For the birthmothers who don’t have that wisdom or the resources to care for another human being and have their children taken away…we pray.

For women who open their hearts and their lives time and time again to foster children who cannot be with their biological families…we pray.

For women who thought they would be married with at least one, maybe two, children by now, but none of that is the case and their hearts are filled with ache and disappointment…we pray.

For women who see that plus sign on a pregnancy test and now begin to freak out about how much life is going to change.

For women who long to be pregnant and go through years and years of heartbreak and other mothers baby showers and questions by strangers about their family plans…we pray.

For mothers who were only mothers for a brief amount of time – weeks or maybe months – before they find themselves without child…we pray.

For mothers who burry their children…we pray.

For spouses and life-partners who thought the woman they married was going to be the mother of their children forever and ever and now for whatever reason that is not the case…we pray.

For those who had to say good-bye to their mothers too soon…or just recently…we pray.

For the women who may not have children of their own and the women who do, but they are also mothers to so many others in various ways…we pray.

For those who know how difficult and nuanced Mother’s Day can be…we pray.

For those who feel Mothers Day in their hearts many times throughout the entire year…we pray.

Amen.