Spring

May you, this Mother’s Day, find a rich and deep celebration of the Sacred Feminine that is held within all of our bodies and around us, even in the air we breathe.

Sharing Our Gratitude on Mother’s Day

Perhaps you aren’t a mother. Perhaps you don’t have a fantastic relationship with your own mother. Or perhaps you are without your mother.

No matter where you find yourself fitting or not fitting, there may be even more to celebrate than you’ve imagined before.

On Mother’s Day, we celebrate our own mothers. We thank them for their love and for the ways they so faithfully offer themselves to us.

And we celebrate women with whom we may share no family ties at all. We offer our gratitude to the women who nurture us, advocate for us and believe in us. For, they too are our mothers.

We give thanks for the women who stand, speak and fight. We celebrate those, both living and gone, who toil to make possible the world in which we get to make our life. For, they too are our mothers.

We offer our admiration and gratitude for the women who bring life to the world. The women with dirt under their nails from working in the fields and in their gardens, the women who birth ideas in their writing, those who sit with the hurting and care for the dying. For, they too are our mothers.

Also, on Mother’s Day, we celebrate God our Mother. God who loves and offers faithfully, who nurtures, advocates for and believes in us, who stands, speaks, fights, births for life to prevail.

Celebrating God As Our Heavenly Mother

God is far beyond anything we can hope for or imagine. We use our language to hint at what we can’t quite fathom. So, how is the Divine like the mother for whom we all long?

God is strength, safety, tenderness, provision, compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love, guidance, comfort, creative power, presence, intimacy, joy, peace, open acceptance, wisdom…

And we, being made in God’s image, both men and women, share these qualities with Her.

So, I hope that you will notice the fingerprints of God, the imago dei, in the women you hold dear and celebrate this Mother’s Day. And I hope you will notice Her in you, also.

As a way of reflecting and connecting with God in this way, we’ve put together a list of just a few scriptures and ways of engaging them. We’d also love to hear how you’ll be celebrating the Sacred Feminine this year in the comments below.

As you enter into prayer around Mother’s Day, may you find joy and appreciation for the feminine within us all.

Celebrating God as Mother through Scripture

Mother Eagle – Deuteronomy 32:11-12

God guarded Jacob as an eagle stirs up its nest,
    and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
    and bears them aloft on its pinions.

Birthing Mother – Isaiah 42:14

For a long time I have held my peace,
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
    I will gasp and pant.

Comforting Mother – Isaiah 66:13

As a mother comforts her child,
    so I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Mother Hen – Luke 13:34

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Ways of Reflecting Upon the Scriptures

Paint or draw them. First, read the scripture repeatedly aloud or silently. Wait for the words and images that stand out to you. Perhaps colors will come to mind. Pay attention and then bring onto paper what you see.

Practice lectio divina with them. Read the scripture three times. First, read the scripture slowly. Second, read the scripture and reflect on what God is giving to you, a word or image perhaps. Third, read it and respond to God in heart and/or verbally. Fourth, rest and let go of your thoughts and listen deeply.

Use them for breath prayer. Choose, as you read, a word or phrase that you will speak in rhythm with your breath. For example, from Isaiah 66:13, “I will comfort you.” On the inhale perhaps recite silently “I will” and on the exhale “comfort you.” It may be helpful to set a timer. Then, you can be present in your practice not concerned about time.

Blessings in Your Celebration

We hope these scriptures offer you a pathway on the journey of connecting to God, to women who do and have mothered you and to the Sacred Feminine within you this Mother’s Day. And don’t forget to share the ways you’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day this year in the comments below! 

Further Resources for Mother’s Day Reflection

• Swallow’s Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms
• God Our Mother, a poem by Allison Woodward.
• “God Our Mother,” an episode on The Liturgists podcast.