Both philosophers and scientists agree on many things. One of them is that the universe is a play of time and space. Both do not exist in reality. They are, to put in mathematical terms, determining line segments in an endless line.
Like the dots which mark the lines on a line segment, changes mark time and space. In time, those dots are day and night, moon cycles, years and other natural astronomical and terrestrial occurrences. Among all of them, dawn and nightfall are experienced the most regularly. Not only do humans sense the passing of time through these daily events, but so do the animals and plants. But if we look even closer, these events are sensed by even abiotic things through the other changes which occur with these events such as temperature changes.
The motherly aspect comes in here. A mother puts her child to sleep and wakes the child when its time to wake up. So do night and dawn. One puts us to sleep and the other wakes us up.
One can ask why we even need to show respect towards these things. Do they demand such respect? No. But, gratitude should be given irrespective of demand or not.
