Abba, Father

A mother hen on her nest spreads both wings wide and low over her chicks, sheltering them completely while the morning sun rises behind her.

Abba, dear Father, be to us everything your name means. Rule us, protect us, keep us, make us holy, guide us and comfort us. Let us be so on fire with love for you that you never turn away from us, most merciful Lord, most tender Father. Amen.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15 (BSB)

Adapted from an ancient Gallican prayer, tr. William Bright (1864), in plain words. The verse is from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Drawing: Mutter.