I am giving a little "talk" at the mother-daughter banquet in my church on Saturday May 8. I am to represent the "daughters, being as I'm one of the very few women there who is an adult and not yet a mother. Anyhow, I need some ideas! I found some overly sappy religious poems, I don't know that I want anything shallow like that. Anyone got any hardcore mother-daughter stuff (though please, remind you this is a church function, so still very appropriate). I have some personal stories I'd like to tell, but with my own mother and grandmother being in attendence, and they do not go to church, I want very much to grab their attention and I want to say something unsuspecting.

Any ideas might spawn me some new inspiration! I would appreciate your help!

Talia there are some great stories at the bottom of the page here:

[www.nursefriendly.com] />
Three of my favorites are here:

[www.jokesnjokes.net] />
[www.jokesnjokes.net] />
[www.jokesnjokes.net] />
Good luck with your speech!



Les



Post Edited (05-02-04 20:53)

Mothers and Daughters


Time brushes their faces
taking from one to give to the other

the slow dip and sweep
brushes the hollows down
for the other's

one face wears so thin
even the brush marks are seen
its wither
blooms on the other

one pair of lips
tires
time takes their flesh
in gutters for the other

kiss the thin or the full
there's only one
face


Kate Llewellyn

You could look at e e cummings:
[www.americanpoems.com] />

Stephen

Talia, here's a small Australian poem capable of grabbing some unsuspecting attention. Written from the perspective of an older man, but you might be able to work it into your speech:

'Mothers and Daughters'
by David Campbell (1915-1979)

The cruel girls we loved
Are over forty,
Their subtle daughters
Have stolen their beauty;

And with a blue stare
Of cool surprise,
They mock their anxious mothers
With their mothers' eyes.

All great suggestions! Thank you so much! I would love more if you have any!

I love the chapter "On Children" from THE PROPHET.

It begins: "Your children are not your children ... they come THROUGH you, but not FROM you ... "

And it ends saying that God loves the BOW (parent) as well as the ARROW (the child).

I think it's comforting for both parents and children.

Here you go Marian:

[www.geocities.com] />

Les

Very nice. I believe there is a bible verse that refers to children as the "quivers in your bow".

I'm looking for that Bible verse. So far, I only found this one (referring to a PERSON as an arrow):

Isaiah 49:2
"He [God] made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver."

Found it:

Psalm 127
A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.

It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, To eat bread earned by hard toil-- all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.

Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in one's youth.

Blessed are they whose quivers are full. They will never be shamed contending with foes at the gate.

I just tried looking for the word DAUGHTER in an on-line Bible concordance and it looks like mostly geneology and rules about the sale of daughters...

But that reminded me that THE BOOK OF RUTH is the ultimate daughter-mother love store. Whither thou goest, and all that.

---

The concordance I used was:

[www.godsview.com] />
but that's not the only one available.

And then there's the toast attributed to Sir Edward Lutyens:-

Heres to the best years of our lives,
Spent in the arms of other men's wives.
To our mothers.



Post Edited (05-04-04 17:40)

Thank you!!!

Today is the day, and of course, I'm a mess! So I went shopping and bought a new outfit. That fixed most of it. Grandma and I are both going to wear big hats!

Anyhow I have been dwelling on this and am about to sit down and write it out. I'm still open for last minute suggestions. And Happy Mother's Day!

How is Mother's day fixed over there. Here its Mothering Sunday and is the fourth Sunday in Lent, said to be the day when servants were allowed home to visit their mothers before Easter and take them a present.

Linda, here in the states it is the first Sunday in May.

Les

Thanks Les. This seems a better time to celebrate, quite often we get Mothering Sunday and clocks go forward on the same day. That's a great way to make mums feel happy, wake them up early on a day when they've already lost an hour. :-(
But why wasn't it last week, 2nd May?



Post Edited (05-09-04 12:50)

Sorry my bad, 2nd Sunday, maybe? Seems to always fall between 5th and 12th of May in any case.

Les

In the U.S.:

"Mother's Day was established in 1907. Anna M. Jarvis of West Virginia requested that her church honor all mothers on the 2nd anniversary of her own mother's death. It was in 1914 that the United States Congress established the 2nd Sunday in May as National Mother's Day."

[members.aol.com]

Linda...us guys have a tough enough time with the SECOND sunday in May ! We need more lead time...like the LAST sunday in May !

Example...i was told i have one of "those" birthdays because it's Oct 3 and therefore no lead time for those who dont plan ahead.

When I was young our parish priest had two sermons which appeared every year, one of them on Mothering Sunday. It could be summarised as:- Mothering Sunday has nothing to do with your actual mother, its mother church, put extra in this week's collection plate.

With that every year from as early as I can remember until he moved to another parish when I was about 12, you tend to ignor the cards and flowers.