🧸 Mothers + Others: You are seen.

Mother's Day Poem, FREE Bookplates, Playlist, & More

I want to say I see you to the women who are caring for the world with their mothering spirits. But the truth is, I don’t.

I don’t see the millions of moments mothers spend nurturing their families with their strength and tenderness. I don’t see the quiet sacrifices they make or the loud fears that surround their hearts.

Motherhood is often unseen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not sacred.

Mother’s Day is complicated, this I know. Perhaps you’re grieving the loss of what was—or what never was—or wrestling with wonderings or regrets or unmet needs.

I don’t see you in all that you hold. All that you give. All that you are.

I wish I did.

But I do believe there is One who does.

The One who says, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” (Isaiah 66:13)

A Poem

I strung a few words together for my mom.

Maybe they’ll mean something to you, too.

We built worlds
On hardwood floors
Lost in time
After you picked me up
From school

In my pink room we imagined
The women we could be
We held them in our hands
Yours with your pretty ring
Mine with my friendship bracelet
Working out big wonderings
In tiny houses
Before dad got home
From work

Maybe you wondered
If it mattered
Maybe you wondered
If you took a different path
Maybe you wondered
Who I’d become

Well I became a lot
Of things — 
And a mother
Whose imagination
Was mothered
By one who invested
In the work
Of a child.

Thanks for playing
Is what I guess
I mean to say.

©Kayla Craig, 2024

Photo by Europeana on Unsplash

Fun Opportunity: A Signed Gift for Mom!

My books To Light Their Way & Every Season Sacred make such easy, thoughtful presents to put together for the moms in your life. Right now, they’re 25 percent off on Amazon (!!!), but there are so many places you can grab copies.

• Amazon 

• Barnes & Noble

• Books-A-Million

• Christianbook 

• Target

FREE Signed Bookplates

If you purchase a book between now and Wednesday (I know, tight turnaround!), respond here, and I’ll pop a signed, dedicated bookplate in the mail to add to your gift.

Prayers for All Moms

Mother’s Day can bring up complicated emotions. Whether you’re celebrating or grieving (or maybe holding space for both), here’s your reminder that even your most silent prayers are heard by a God who loves you deeply.

Whatever you’re holding, God knows. I marvel at the way Jesus described his love like the love of a mother hen. That nurturing imagery is vivid and comforting.

I wrote a few prayers in To Light Their Way that might specifically speak to the different angles folks view Mother’s Day from:

• Single Mother (page 101)

• Being Apart From Your Child (page 29)

• Infertility (page 62)

• Pregnancy Loss (page 64)

• Grieving Mother (page 65)

• Depressed Mother (page 69)

• Divorced Mother (page 76)

• Foster Mother (page 103)

• Adoptive Mother (page 14)

• Pregnant Mother (page 3)

• For Daughters (page 127)

With prayers from pregnancy to college, I hope there are prayers for everyone who shows up in your life with a mothering spirit. (And it’s not too late to order for Mother’s Day!)

A Vow

What if all new moms made vows to their children right from the start?

Let the record show, as God is my witness:

We will do this together.

I will show up for you.

I am here to raise, guide, and love you.

To honor you and protect you.

I will do my broken best.

Our stories have converged,

And now we write a new book,

Moment by moment, day by day.

No matter what, we are together.

Today, tomorrow, for all the days to come,

with Christ alongside me and before me,

I will love you to the end.

The above is an adapted excerpt from pages 29-30 of Every Season Sacred.

This Week

Keep reading for:

• intentional breath prayers

• Mother’s Day 2024 playlist

• Scripture

• reflection prompts

• quote

• phone wallpaper

• benediction