Loving Lord Jesus,
Who honoured his mother, even while on the cross,
Today I pray for Mums,
Left in grim, lonely, dark side rooms to feed or settle their babies while others get to take part in worship,
Raising children without any wider family or community and who are told that that shouldn’t be a need,
For Mums who are told to wait outside with their children because their children are considered disruptive,
For mums who can’t attend home group or Bible studies because their children need them,
Who can’t attend toddler groups because their quiet children can’t adjust to noisy children; And who can never speak to other mums while there, because they have to entertain their own children,
For Mums who wait for calls from their friends to check on them but the calls never come. Who feel the pain of being left out.
Who bear the isolation of the criticism or silent envy of their single friends or the competitiveness or judgment of other mums.
For Moms who get up every day after disrupted nights and teach their children faithfully about You as best they can while lonely and weak in body and mind,
Who sing to You and share beautiful music with their children, with the constant sense that someone will tell them that they’re doing it all wrong,
For Mums who, in the hope that their children will see a loving Christian community, commit themselves to serving a church that rejects them: cooking meals, leading Bible studies, hosting study groups, offering to help and then being unwanted.
For Mums who thought the church would be a kind of family for them, who studied hard to get to grips with doctrine, but who are never seen, because they don’t have the right education, aren’t from the proper “vintage”, or their lives have been too chaotic,
For Mums who whenever they approach older Mums, are only faced with criticism,
For Mums whose kids’ needs are different, or who behave in an unexpected way. Who feel the burden and the pain of their children crying because they are lonely or left out or bullied, knowing well that if they talked to anyone about it they would be told that it’s nothing or that it’s their fault.
For Mums, who make choices for their children, in the best interests of their children even though it costs them everything , and are only further isolated in doing so
Please, Lord Jesus,
Fill them with your generous abundant love.
Bring them comfort and healing.
Remind them that You are right there with them, cast out in the lonely, grim side rooms.
Remind them that their role is honoured by You.
Help them to allow themselves to rest in your loving arms. May your love and favour surround them and their children. May your care protect them and their children.
I pray that whatever they tell their children about You – even the smallest teaching – would that flourish into a leafy, fruitful tree of faith in their children so that they exude Your life and love and gentleness wherever they go and are filled with a peace and security that no one can ever take away.
Give their children success and a clear path ahead so that your kingdom will come through them. May this bring great joy to their Mums.
And as they grow and see their Mums’ energy more dried up after the toil and pain, help their children to love and understand, listen to and be generous with their mums.
If their children ever perceive how their Mums are treated, may they have grace for those who should have done better. Would you give them a faith that survives all this, and a hope for the church. And for the moments when their Mums can’t hide their distress from their children, would you abundantly heal their children.
And for Mums when they are haunted by regrets, mistakes in parenting or the times when they felt they had no option but to raise their voices, reassure them that you are big enough to redeem the whole world.
When they emerge from this season and others their age have careers and promotions and fame, the world has sped off without them and they’re not sure who they are anymore, or where they belong, bless them with a deep sense of their significance before You.
As they now listen to sermons from people much younger and less experienced than them, and the gospel words ring hollow in their brains, refresh them with your love, and bless them with happy conversations with their children afterwards, where words are unpacked and applications wrestled with…
And hope in a friendly, faithful, humble, holy Saviour is restored.
Green Olive Tree 