There is an ancient statement that says, “When one is deluded and full of fear and doubt, a thousand books of scripture will not be enough. But, when one realizes their oneness with the presence of God, the ONE will be too many.”
As we approach Mother’s Day, we want to realize our oneness with the Divine Mother aspect of the Presence. This realization will help lift us to our high possibility as emanations of Spirit.
Interestingly, although Mother’s Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, the impetus for Mother’s Day started in 1870 as a result of the work of Julia Ward Howe, a social activist and writer of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The prelude for Mother’s Day started in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a day dedicated to peace.
That first meeting came about because the participants, primarily women, were devastated by the effects the Civil War and they wanted to see a world where such carnage no longer existed.
The following potent words were written and read by Julia Ward Howe at that first event in 1870. It is known as the "Mothers' Day Proclamation for Peace." “Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly, ’We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.’ We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, ‘Disarm, Disarm!’ The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God. In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”
Out of broken hearts and compassion was birthed the origins for Mother’s Day. Howe's words represent aspirations within all of us as children of the Divine. As we make these ideas the activity of our awareness, we will begin to see a world that represents the highest and best of who we really are.
It is in this spirit that we honor Mother’s Day and the Divine Mother in us all.
Peace and Blessings,
James