Bittersweet
The following was shared as part of the welcome at the Canvas gathering on Mother’s Day, Sunday May 11th.
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Good morning! Welcome! My name is Charity and I’m so grateful to be here with you all today. That’s my family over there: my husband, Peter and our four kids. I am honored and grateful to be their mom. They’re really cool kids. They speak the most beautiful poetry without even trying. One of my favorite little poems is the sensation of little hands caressing my face and a sweet little voice whispering, “Mommy, your breath smells bad, but I still love you”. Anyone else remember their mom's coffee breath?
I love that realness though! Isn't so much of life bittersweet like that? That's how the words “happy mother's day” taste to me. Those words are bittersweet because this body has experienced both the *joy*, pain, and mess of creating and birthing new life and the *sorrow*, pain, and mess of unexpected death. And I won't get into it right now, but my experience of my own mother is bittersweet too.
One of the concepts I read about this week is the paradox of Jesus being both the Shepherd and the Lamb. A guide worthy to follow because of his lived experience! He’s the Good Shepherd who knows what it’s like to be a vulnerable Lamb and I’m grateful for it because it tells me he understands what it’s like to be parenting children while simultaneously reparenting myself. I still feel like a child most days so I'm beginning to understand – with more and more grace and gratitude – how strong my mom has always been to survive her life as well as she did and keep going as well as she does.
So, I want you to hear me that if I exist in this room here and now, then this room already contains the full range of human emotion, and if I feel welcome and safe in this space, which I do, then I hope each of you can feel that too. Whatever you bring today, whatever comes up for you, is welcome. So consider that this air is also already full of grace and take some deep breaths, letting it fill you up as I begin reading our prayer for today.
— Charity Schweitzer
