Mother God

Today was Mother's Day. I spent it thinking about ways that God mothers me, which I don't think I've ever thought much about before today. I saw it everywhere, and had reminder after reminder about God as my mother. 

In the past, I’ve felt a bit offended or uncomfortable with people or writers calling God a ‘she’ and referring to God as their mother. I’m not exactly sure why really. It felt brazen. I wondered if the writer was a little too angry at fathers and men, or diminishing God’s nature, or maybe adding to the Bible. The image of God as Father has always been deeply meaningful to me and I’ve clung to it. But God as a ‘she’ felt weaker, isn’t that just the saddest realization?? It brings a tear to my eye actually. No wonder I struggle with feeling like a ‘less than’ sometimes.

I know the Bible refers to some ‘motherly’ characteristics of God, but what if it’s broader than that? I think it is. I’d like to do some research about gender in the Hebrew language and the Bible. How much of our translation of ‘he’ in reference to God is from the Bible being translated by men or the male-centric society and patriarchy? I don’t know the answer to that, but I think it is something I’ll spend some time studying. I have loved the verses in the Bible about God as a mother and a nurturer, but this weekend this thought just blossomed with new life in my heart.

Yesterday I had some really difficult things happen, a yucky mess to clean up, some fears about the future, and an overwhelmed feeling just swept over me, as it often does. I found myself in tears, realizing that I just wanted my mom. She would have been able to help me, give me wise advice, and take the pressure off.  Or she might just rub my feet and make me feel better.

But my mom’s not here. Then I heard God kind of cough in my mind, reminding me that I’m not alone, I have a helper, a comforter, a listening ear, a wise one, and one to take the burden off me, just like a mother.  A divine mother, even.

For the rest of the weekend, I couldn’t stop seeing it everywhere - the way a mama bird feeds her babies, and gets them ready to fly through their own lives, the way Jann Arden sings about a Good Mother, the way I love my own kids without question and have good instincts about leading them, the way God gives good gifts, knowing what I need, and nurtures me in the good and the hard times, with humour, confidence, boldness, and without fear. It was especially evident in celebrating Mother’s Day today and the way we talk about mothering.

Thinking of God as a mother adds a whole different level of intimacy to my relationship with God and enriches my view of God. As a mom of two boys, there are times when they just need me, their mama. I love being able to comfort them, lend them my calm, motivate them, remind them how deeply loved they are, or just sit with what I call the ministry of proximity - being near. I also teach them and lead them and have bold and radical and holy things to say to them about women and about mental health and about the forgotten ones in our society, as they watch me learn to live out that truth. There are many things they run to their dad about, and I’m grateful that they have both of us. But me walking hand in hand with God as my mother adds such a beautiful picture to the way I see God.

I read an article today by Sarah Bessey about how the goodness and completeness of the expression of God had to include both a father and a mother - that it was incomplete without one or the other. That is powerful to me.

I can’t wait to think more about this - to walk with my strong and capable mother God, to look around and see her power and creativity in nature and in my people and in the world, to hear truth from her and voice my prayers to her listening ear.