Honoring our Mother Earth on Mother’s Day

It is the week leading up to Mother’s Day. There are a plethora of announcements and ads letting you know of the perfect Mother’s Day gift (I confess to being part of the Mother’s Day enticements!).

On a recent walk I was thinking about how our Native American brothers and sisters have had a different relationship with our Earth - showing respect, being careful to not take too much, only what you need, and giving back.

And then my thoughts turned back to Mother’s Day. Can we draw a correlation with the Native American relationship with Mother Earth, and our (by “our”, I refer to all “new-comers” to this North American continent) relationship to our human Mothers?

In our infancy and through childhood our mothers give and give of their love and resources. But as we reach adulthood, hopefully, the child now starts to give love and resources back, careful not to over burden the mother who nourished them.

I am reminded of a passage from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, “Braiding Sweetgrass”. They are words from the Thanksgiving Address*:

“We are thankful for our Mother the Earth, for she gives us everything that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she still continues to care for us, just as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send thanksgiving, love, and respect. Now our minds are one.”

Are we finally at the stage of our collective “lives” that we can start to give back, nurture, respect, and not take more than we need from our Mother the Earth?

“* The actual words of the Thanksgiving Address varies with the speaker. This text is the widlely publicised version of John Stokes and Kanawahientun, 1993.”

Part of the Human+Nature exhibit by Daniel Popper, at the Morton Arboretum