God, we praise you for the women who have taught us to be strong, who have held us, who have raised us with a prayer and with a song. Sarah laughed to hear the promise-- God would bless her with a son; Sarah laughed and Sarah doubted till she saw what God had done. Pharaoh's daughter, like a mother, lifted Moses from a pool, brought him safely to the palace where a slave would go to school. Mary watched the killing madness as her son died on the cross; she who knew the joy of childbirth now was torn by bitter loss. As her life drew on toward evening, after she had raised her own, Lois held her baby grandson, told him of God's love made known.