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You are here: Home / Archives for Family

Family

Uncover the Majesty of the Divine Feminine This Mother’s Day

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

Celebrate Mother’s Day this year by uncovering the power and majesty of the Feminine Divine with your children.

mother's day

Perhaps this Mother’s Day you celebrate because you mother lots of children. Or perhaps you aren’t a mother of children, but of ideas. Maybe you don’t have a relationship with your mother or you speak with her every day. Or perhaps your mother is now gone.

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

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, and births so life can prevail.

And on Mother’s Day we celebrate women, those with and without children, who embody Mother God. The women in the fields feeding us, those caring for the living and the dying, those cheering us on, those birthing their inspiration and inviting us to do the same.

mother's day

We always love hearing from you. Share your thoughts on relating to Mother God this Mother’s Day in the comments below!

Finding God Our Mother in Scripture

Our sacred texts have so much to offer us on Mother’s Day. Look to these scriptures for reflection and prayer! I hope you find joy and appreciation for the feminine within us all as you do.

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.

Mother Hen – Luke 13:34

How often have I desired to gather your children together [Jerusalem] as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…!

mother's day 106

Ways of Reflecting Upon the Scriptures This Mother’s Day

Paint or Draw

On Mother’s Day, read the scripture repeatedly aloud with your kids. Invite them to look for the words and images that stand out to them as they listen. Perhaps even colors will come to mind. Then, after paying attention to what comes to mind, bring pens or colors to paper and create.

Give your kids ten minutes to draw and color. Then, invite them to share their creations with each other. Close by reading the scripture once more together.

Practice Lectio Divina

On Mother’s Day, read the scripture aloud three times with your kids.

First, read the scripture slowly. Invite your kids to simply listen openly and to gather their focus to the present.

Second, read the scripture and encourage your kids to reflect on what God is giving to them, a word or image in the scripture perhaps.

Third, read the text and invite your kids to respond to God. This can be a time of sharing verbally together, silence, prayer, etc.

Fourth, invite your kids to rest and let go of their thoughts, listening deeply for whatever God brings to them.

mother's day

Breath Prayer

On Mother’s Day, read together one of the scriptures. Invite your children to choose, as you read, a word or phrase that they will speak in rhythm with their breath when you all pray. For example, from Isaiah 66:13, “I will comfort you.” On the inhale perhaps recite silently “I will” and on the exhale “comfort you.”

Consider bringing the group back together playing music or ringing a bell. Invite them to share with each other what the experience was like. Explain that they can use this kind of prayer with any phrase or scripture.

Blessings in Your Mother’s Day Celebration

I hope these scriptures help you connect 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 your thoughts on relating to Mother God in the comments below!

mother's day

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
  • A Mother’s Day Prayer, by Rev. Marci Glass
  • An open letter to pastors {a non-mom speaks on Father’s Day}
  • Two prayers by Rev. Ashley-Anne Masters: Prayer for Parents & Those Who Want to Be and Prayer for Children of All Ages

6 Colossally Meaningful Ways to Inspire Creation Care this Earth Day

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

The Earth is a masterpiece of God’s artistry. Invite your kids into practices of creation care to celebrate this on Earth Day!

creation care

Oh, lord, there are times when habitat destruction, pollution, and death can feel like almost too much to take in. So, let me offer you some hope this Earth Day. We are not powerless. Let’s inspire our kids to be a generation that takes creation care seriously and brings about change!

What are you doing with your kids this Earth Day to celebrate God’s beauty and bring healing to creation? Share with us in the comments below!

creation care

Using Our Power

Getting honest is important, even and especially when it’s uncomfortable to do so. We need to be real with ourselves about the state of things. It doesn’t help any of us if we avoid and deny.

Our holy texts tell us that “The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” Yikes! We’ve been on this path for a long time.

But, we have the power to make change happen. We do not have to live as victims, overwhelmed. God is with us, faithful and gives us the strength to protect, restore and create the world in partnership with the relentless Divine Force of Life. So, in turn, we might flourish along with her.

creation care

Creation Care with Your Kids

Support struggling animals. There are several animal species currently on their way to extinction. We can come together and help! We are all a part of God’s creation and deserve the best opportunity to flourish. And our lives will be drastically affected. On the other hand, we have the power to make a difference in our future.

Pick up trash. Head to the coast or to the sidewalks. Bring a bag, gloves, and help clear the land of waste. This helps our animal and plant brothers and sisters. Additionally, it increases our health. Lastly, it will make your community more beautiful to live in.

Clear your garage and pantry of pesticides. The fact of the matter is that these harmful chemicals are decimating insect populations. Why does this matter? Pollinators are something we CANNOT live without. So, we need to stop killing them off inadvertently.

creation care

Plant native plants. Dig in the dirt with your kids! First, this increases beauty. Second, you will use less water to keep them alive. Third, the insects will benefit from having plants they are designed to ingest and pollinate.

Create your own Act of Green. Earth Day Network is launching a series of major campaigns to bring about global collaboration. Support the effort by creating your own Act of Green — and helping them reach 3 billion. These acts are anything from quitting smoking to using fabric bags.

Switch to non-plastic bags and wraps. Zero waste alternatives include beeswax-infused fabric wrap, stainless steel and glass containers, silicon storage bags, and so many more. Some of these are easy to make at home with your kiddos, too!

Don’t forget to tell us what you’re doing with your kiddos to celebrate Earth Day in the comments below!

creation care

Earth Day Prayer

I leave you with a prayer from St. Basil the Great. As you celebrate Earth Day this year may you feel deep connection to the Earth where we find our home and our peace. And may you find joy and purpose in caring for Her.

O God, enlarge within us the sense of
fellowship with all living things,
our brothers/sisters the animals to whom thou
gavest the earth as their home in common with us.

May we realize that they live not for
us alone but for themselves and for
thee, and that they love
the sweetness of life.

These 5 Kids’ Books about Empathy Teach Us How to Love Like God

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

Read these kids’ books about empathy with your young ones and teach them how to live out their faith in tangible ways every day.

kids books about empathy

What kids’ books about empathy do you enjoy with your young ones? Tell us in the comments below!

Why does empathy matter?

We begin to understand others. When we practice empathy, we place ourselves in someone else’s shoes. This is important for so many reasons.

Empathy teaches us about God’s love. God lived in the person of Jesus. And God lives within and through us and all of creation now. God, by nature of being incarnational, is empathetic. We love like God when we practice empathy.

Empathy enriches our relationships. When we use our energy to understand those around us we become more connected. We know our close ones more deeply. And around us people feel safer to be who they are.

Empathy improves group dynamics. When a group is full of people who practice empathy lots of amazing things are true. Violence is lower. Communication is better. Self-expression increases. Creativity and innovation thrive.

Empathy helps us cultivate self-acceptance. We learn to understand the experience of others. Consequently, we begin to see our past self as an “other” to understand. We can look to less aware, experienced, healthy, kind, brave… selves as ones to be seen and loved.

Bottom line? Empathy is utterly foundational to making compassionate decisions. If we are to live out our faith with compassion, which is kind of the point, we must develop our ability to empathize.

kids books on empathy

Wonder

Age range: 8-12 years old

August Pullman is a 10-year-old boy who likes Star Wars and Xbox, ordinary except for his jarring facial anomalies. Homeschooled all his life, August heads to public school for fifth grade and he is not the only one changed by the experience–something we learn about first-hand through the narratives of those who orbit his world. August’s internal dialogue and interactions with students and family ring true, and though remarkably courageous he comes across as a sweet, funny boy who wants the same things others want: friendship, understanding, and the freedom to be himself.

Auggie & Me

Age range: 8-12 years old

Auggie & Me gives readers a special look at the world of Wonder through three new points of view. These stories are an extra peek at Auggie before he started at Beecher Prep and during his first year there. Readers get to see him through the eyes of Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie’s oldest friend; and Charlotte, Auggie’s new friend at school. What an opportunity for empathic learning! Together, these three stories are a treasure for readers who don’t want to leave Auggie behind.

kids books on empathy

Amazing Grace

Age range: 4-8 years old

Grace loves stories, whether she hears them, reads them, or makes them up. Possessed with a marvelous imagination as well as a strong flair for the dramatic, she acts the stories out, always giving herself the most exciting parts. Thus, it is natural when her teacher announces a classroom production of Peter Pan , that Grace wants to play the lead. One classmate says she can’t because she’s a girl and another says she can’t because she’s black. When a saddened Grace relates the days events to her mother and grandmother, they tell her she can be anything she wants to, if she puts her mind to it.

The Invisible Boy

Age range: 6-9 years old

The Invisible Boy follows the journey of Brian, a boy who feels unnoticed by his peers – invisible – in school. Brian is the only kid not chosen for a kickball team and is left out of a fellow student’s birthday party. It isn’t until a new kid, Justin – a boy with a few quirks of his own – joins the class that Brian begins to feel more visible.

The One and Only Ivan

Age range: 8-12 years old

Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan, a captive gorilla, has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.

Have fun reading these kids’ books on empathy with your young ones. And don’t forget to share your ideas, too, in the comments below!

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