So many child dreams to realize and hopes to nourish and protect.
Our countries and a common world to change and such long distances to travel — from waging war to waging peace; from sickness and death to health; from doubt to faith in Creator’s feminine spirit within
Let some of us — you and I — begin this minute on that journey
To speak for those unable to speak for themselves
To stand with those who cannot stand alone
To gather family and friends to stand with us.
Let us begin this day singing a new song for all our mothers and sisters and brothers and fathers and children around our world who are our own.
***
An old familiar proverb says, “A man may work from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.” There is no doubt how apt this saying is for many mothers. Mother’s Day is often celebrated as an opportunity for families to show mothers they are appreciated through a day of “rest,” maybe with a home-cooked breakfast in bed or a dinner out. But mothers know that even in a rare moment when our hands are still, our minds and hearts are never fully at rest. There is always so much work to do.
This is true not only in individual homes and families, but on a national and global scale. Gun violence is just one example. Moms Demand Action has been fighting for common sense changes to our nation’s gun laws since the 2012 murders of six educators and twenty first graders in Newtown, Connecticut. So far this year it has seemed clearer than ever that gun violence is an undeniably all-American epidemic. Yet too many elected leaders have remained staunchly unwilling to listen to the groundswell of mothers’ voices — joined by fathers, other women, men, grandparents, and young people across the country — insisting they do something about it. But there is hope we may be reaching a turning point.
This Mother’s Day weekend, Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety have called for a Mother’s Day of Action with rallies across the country on May 13 to demand lawmakers reinstate the bipartisan assault weapons ban. As they say simply: “We are fed up with wondering whether our children will make it home alive.” So they are not willing to sit by and idly wait. Many will keep praying fervently for their own children’s safety, as mothers and fathers have always done, but they will accompany their prayers and their faith and their concern for children everywhere with work.
This is a chance to sing a new song. I end again with a special prayer this Mother’s Day for mothers, grandmothers, and all with a mothering spirit. It is a call to action for all people who are willing to work for the world children deserve.
O God of all time
Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and eternity
Give us courage in our lifetimes
To make war on war
Which leaves behind waifs and widows
Rubble of spirit, home, and community.
Mothers, grandmothers, and all with a mothering spirit
Let us declare and demand:
No more war
No more violence and abuse
No more killing of our young
O God of yesterday, today, tomorrow, and eternity
Our dwelling place in all generations
Give us courage to sow seeds of life and hope for the future
And to fight with all our moral might for justice for every child
Help us to pluck the thorns of despair from our children’s lives.
Mothers, grandmothers, and all with a mothering spirit
Let us declare and demand:
No more hunger
No more homelessness
No more poverty
O God of yesterday, every child’s history
O God of today, every living child’s birthright
O God of tomorrow, every child’s inheritance
O God of eternity, every child’s hope
Life our voices against the spiritual and cultural pollution
which leave dreamless and purposeless the fruit of our wombs.
Mothers, grandmothers, and all with a mothering spirit
Let us stand together and build a world fit for children
Calling all to serve, to care, and to act to leave no child behind.
• • •• • •
Marian Wright Edelman is Founder and President Emerita of the Children's Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. 
