Message from Mary • Something to Ponder
March 8th is International Women’s Day.
The following is an excerpt from “Women at the Well” by Janet Lee
Like Women
We sometimes find aspects of other women’s stories that resonate with our own. Here are some short reflections on some stories of women, starting with Miriam from the Bible. Edith is nurse Edith Cavell. Constance is Constance Coltman, one of the first women to be ordained in Britain. Hope is a teenager from Yorkshire. Which woman here, if any, do you connect most with and why?
Like Miriam
Exiled,
outside the camp,
skin peeling,
sadness seeping through me:
you punish me
for what?
But unlike Miriam
I will not return
after seven days.
Like Edith
You stand still
as in that last moment,
keeping a vigil for us
on the edge of eternity.
Your words echo
across a century
and I wonder
how to leave behind
what festers in me.
Like Constance
The same call,
the same college,
the same choice,
the same struggle,
even one hundred years later.
I see the hope burning in you:
may it burn again in me.
Like You
‘Hope is my middle name,’
you told me yesterday.
How thankful I am
for you and all you stand for.
Prayer
Life-giver,
well up in us,
flow through our relationships,
strip away the old,
shine up the new.
May we return to our wells
and drink deeply,
ready to meet the challenges of today.