Loving God, you call yourself Father but you also speak of yourself in many mothering images.
It’s not surprising, since you are neither male nor female but the One in whose image both men and women are created. But sometimes it still surprises me, and I need to be reminded again of the fullness of your love that is both stronger and gentler, fiercer and more compassionate than even the best human parent.
You “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), thank you for making safe space in yourself for us to grow into our unique selves.
Jesus, thank you for choosing the physical and emotional anguish—and ultimate joy—of carrying us in your own body and birthing us into life through your death.
Holy Spirit, thank you, too, for your part in bearing us into the kingdom of God. We could not enter the kingdom without being born both of water and of you (John 3:5-8).
Holy Trinity, you labor “as a woman in the pains of childbirth” to bring us out of our dark, cramped space into light and life and freedom (Isaiah 42:14-16). We are so grateful.
_ _ _
It is almost impossible for a new mother, breasts leaking milk and belly still swollen, to forget the baby she has borne. But even if the unthinkable happens and she forgets, you will not forget us (Isaiah 49:15).
When danger is near, you shield and protect us, hiding us under your wings like a mother hen shelters her chicks (Ps 17:8; 36:7; 91:4; Matt 23:37).
When the time is right, you nudge us out of the nest. But when we find ourselves falling instead of flying, we also discover you swooping underneath and lifting us back up like a mother eagle carries her little ones (Deut 32:10-12).
_ _ _
As a mother nourishes her baby through her body and blood, so you, Jesus, feed us with yourself (Matt 26:26-28).
And as a mother comforts her tearful child, so you comfort us (Isaiah 66:13).
Thank you, Loving God. Thank you.
Hold us close, quiet us with your love, and teach us to still our souls in your love like a weaned child with its mother (Ps 131:1-2).
May we give you the honor due the One who has brought us into being, carried, nourished, comforted, trained, and kept us alive since the earliest moments of our existence.
We are yours, and we love you.
Amen.
_______________
On this (North American) Mother’s Day weekend, what aspect of God’s mothering means the most to you?
_______________
Want to soak longer in God’s mothering, or share God’s gentle love with your mother or your adult kids? You or they might enjoy my book, Risking Rest, which takes you through Afghanistan and illness in the process of learning to rest more deeply in God’s mothering (and fathering, husbanding, midwifing) love in the midst of life’s uncertainties. You can read the first chapter here.
