…The scriptures today use a common metaphor that we’ve likely heard before: God is a good shepherd who tends to his sheep.  That comparison would have been profound in the time of Jesus, as sheep were abundant in the Holy Land and shepherding was a vital occupation.  Today, however, I offer you another metaphor (a simile actually) that may resonate more in our time:  God is like a Good Mother who tends to Her children.  

 

Now, as a mom, I’m not trying to be self-promoting when I say that. :)  Rather, I’m drawing upon the examples of many mothers I’ve been blessed to know and love.  So, what is a mother?

 

To me, a mother is our first home. Quite literally for those of us raised by our biological moms, but just as true, albeit differently, if we were adopted,  or if we have come to experience motherly love from a treasured aunt, grandmother, sister, or someone else who embodies this way of loving.  They offer us shelter, the safest space wherein we are nurtured to grow and thrive, as well as where we are healed after a broken heart; a place of comfort.  

 

Mothers are often our first mirrors — the loving reflection that perceives  every detail of who we are and says, with a gentle gaze, “You are precious, you are beloved, and you are worthy of infinite care always.”  They are capable of profoundly reflecting back to us our innocence and innate goodness.

 

And mothers are one of the very first witnesses to our lives.  Their presence and vigilance tell us that our comings and goings matter, that what we do and how we live matters.  They notice us, and care about what our personal daily news is, even if it’s boring. :)  They root for us, with a degree of faith few can match. Simply put, they are on our team to stay.

 

Yes, God is like a Good Mother who tends to Her children.

  

Most of what I’ve learned about being a mother came from my own.  I am the youngest of four, and we were blessed to have very good parents.  Our mother was many things but, in a word, she was compassionate.  She taught me to consider what the other person might be going through, to extend the benefit of the doubt, and to give second chances…

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Devoted, empathetic, and self-sacrificing.  My mother had these traits to a fault at times, but they also were her power — for everyone who knew her came away blessed by her because of these qualities.  

 

Yes, God is like a Good Mother who tends to Her children. 

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…for me, no experience on earth has been more vulnerable to me than being a mother.  While that can cause me to utterly ache at times, it is in this very vulnerability that I truly live, with all the amazing tasks motherhood requires — to protect, teach, innovate, help heal, and so forth.  It’s been my experience that motherhood is an opportunity to be more Christ-like.

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Understanding God as a Good Mother is Life-Giving, especially for women who long to relate to an image of God that offers a likeness with which they can really identify… Which is why in our house we sometimes refer to God as She, so as not to lose sight of the beautiful and powerful feminine aspects of God reflected in our own divine nature… but that's a sermon for another time. :) 

 

…Today, my prayer for you, is that you may somehow feel God loving you, both intimately and infinitely — like a Good Mother — and that you know nothing could ever separate Her love from you.