A Mother’s Prayer

Had I been Joseph’s mother — I’d have prayed,
    protection from his brothers:
God, keep him safe; he is so young,
    so different from the others.
Mercifully she never knew’
    there would be slavery and prison, too.

Had I been Moses’ mother — I’d have wept,
    to keep my little son;
Praying she might forget the babe
    drawn from the water of the Nile,
Had I not kept him for her nursing him the while?
    Was he not mine and she but Pharoah’s daughter?

Had I been Mary — Oh, had I been she,
    I would have cried as never  a mother cried,
Anything, O God, anything but crucified!
With such prayers importunate,
    my finite wisdom would assail Infinite Wisdom;
God, how fortunate Infinite Wisdom should prevail!”

            -From Ruth Bell Graham’s Collected Poems-

“To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.                    (Revelation 1:5-6)