God of Provision and Unconditional Love, on this day when we acknowledge the importance of motherhood among us, we first give thanks that you are a loving parent to us all.
We give you thanks for the mothers among us, and ask that you strengthen them in their daily tasks. Grant them wisdom in the lessons they teach, patience in the discipline they foster, and persistence in their promotion of decency and compassion, both by word and example.
We thank you for all motherly figures: grandmothers, aunts, sisters, wives, step-mothers, foster mothers, guardians, babysitters, teachers, health care providers, neighbors, friends, loved ones, and many others, who practice self-sacrifice and embody compassion to all who are privileged to be in their influence.
For some, this day brings the sorrowful awareness of their own inability to conceive biological children. Draw your tender spirit near their feelings.
We pray for those who have suffered miscarriages, those fatigued by fertility treatments, and those struggling through the process of adoption.
For some, this day is marked by loneliness and grief, as they spend this first Mother’s Day as a widower, an orphan, or a parent who has lost a child. Bring to them a steady restoration of their broken hearts, allow them to live into their future with hope.
For some, this is a day that surfaces ongoing tensions that exist within our personal relationships and family dynamics. We ask for healing from the wounds of our past, a path of forgiveness for wrongs both experienced and committed, and the rebuilding of trust forged in honesty, authenticity, and love.
Remind us to live with a child-like faith, curious to every wondrous mystery, attentive to your instruction, obedient, and willing to share with every one of your children. We give you thanks, O God, who is a loving Mother and Father to us all, and in whose name we pray,
Amen.