Welcome to the Mothering Spirit newsletter! Each Saturday morning, you’ll receive a round-up of the week’s posts—perfect for your weekend reading.
This week on Mothering Spirit
Clarissa Moll relates to the fierce love of mother bears in her experience as a widow:
“In the last three years since my husband’s death, I’ve never growled at anyone. I’ve never threatened anybody by standing on my back legs and grunting. However, as I’ve seen my children’s vulnerabilities in the stark light of grief, I’ve most definitely become a mama bear. I’ve learned to advocate with grace and determination for my children’s survival and flourishing in a world that can often feel heartbreakingly harsh. Most powerfully, I’ve discovered through mothering my children in grief that there is One who delights in passionately caring for me this way too.”
Kayla Craig offers a prayer for the one who parents alone:
O Lord, we feel like we're doing
So much for our families,
Yet it's never enough.
Today we give all we hold
And all we juggle
And all we try to balance
To You, for Your love
Is big enough for it all.
And You never abandon,
Never leave,
And never give up.
Here are 3 ways to pray through Epiphany: light a candle, write down something you’ve learned about God, and pray with a new image of God from Scripture. Read the rest here.
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A final word for reflection
“Like Mary, we have no way of knowing…We can ask for courage, however, and trust that God has not led us into this new land only to abandon us there.”
(Kathleen Norris from God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas)
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