A Prayer for Mother’s Day
I wonder if there is any other day in our calendar that provokes such deep and contrasting emotions as Mother’s Day? For some, it is a day of celebration, gratitude, and joy; you rejoice in your role as mother (and perhaps now as grandmother) and give thanks for the blessing of your offspring. For others, though, it’s a day of disappointment, loss, and pain; you grieve unfulfilled desires, unreconciled relationships, and untimely loss. For many, it will be a mixture of both. Mother’s Day is a lot like life; it’s good and grievous, beautiful and broken, joyful and painful.
This is why perhaps the most pressing need on a day like Mother’s Day (and every other day) is prayer. To turn to the God who cares for us and invites us to turn to him with our whole selves; all of our joys and all of our sorrows (1 Pet. 5:7). To this end I would like to offer the following prayer for Mother’s Day written by author and blogger Justin Taylor. May God comfort, encourage and sustain us today and all our days.
Heavenly Father,
On a day like Mother’s Day there are so many different emotions that we bring to you.
Some of us bring emotions of deep gratitude and joy for the mothers you have blessed us with, mothers who have loved us, cared for us, walked with us, and taught us how to live well. We praise you for such love shown to us through our mums and we pray for all those who are mums, that you would give them: strength where they are weak, wisdom where they are unsure, patience with the many demands placed upon them, faith in your care for them and their families, and love—deep love—for those whom you have given them to nurture.
Others of us bring emotions of sadness and pain. Some of us are saddened because our relationship with our mum is not easy, or was not easy, or perhaps never existed at all.
Please meet us in our pain, heal our hearts where they are wounded, soften our hearts where they are hardened, and enable us to forgive and to love even those who have hurt us.
Others of us are saddened because we long to be mums, long to have children, and yet are not able to do so. Father of mercies, give us comfort in our sadness, trust in you despite unfulfilled longings, and joy in knowing that you never stop loving us or having our best in mind.
We pray these things to you as our Father, who loved us before the world began, and will love us forevermore.
In Jesus’ name, amen
