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Are You My Mother?

A woman, I will call Jackie confessed, “My whole life all I’ve been searching for is my mother.” The odd thing about this admission was that this searching woman was not orphaned or motherless. Jackie grew up with two parents in her life. The difference was love and intimacy was not given to her. Now in adulthood Jackie realized surrogate mother relationships, food and some times even alcohol were used to fill the mother shaped hollowness in her heart but to no avail. Even God and his great love did not seem to suffice. But Why?

I thought about this sad revelation for a long time–then for the first time, it struck me: God is our mother. Maybe Jackie hadn’t thought of God that way before. I began to think I should let God be my mother too.

When first reading works by Anne Lamott I felt uncomfortable as she referred to God always as feminine such as, “She” and “Her”. It seemed odd; God as a woman. My image of God was most influenced by the male references to God in Scripture. Now, I think Anne and I have both have been in error. Seeing God as only a “male” or “female” is to see Him from only a human perspective. In truth, God is neither male nor female, but God is our Father and our Mother. God desires to meet every need.

The language of the Bible shows how much the almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, is not distant or unloving, but family. Using the pronoun “It” doesn’t appeal to the intimacy to which God loves or knows us. “It” is weird to our human perceptions as well. It (God) is indeed our dear parent who loves us with a most powerful devotion we can only compare with a good parent that profoundly loves his or her own child. The precious child is in fact a parent’s own flesh and blood.

God is undeniably Spirit. Jesus is “God with skin on”, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth that also resides within the believer. God is not relegated to gender or biology, for He created it. This pronoun language used in the Bible facilitates as a descriptor of His great love, not a limiting detail of His makeup. God is indeed our every thing. He is sufficient for our every need. Both halves of the human race were made by God in His image. The range of emotions found in both genders are perfect, pure and good in God’s character.

God desires we understand his boundless love in that familial manner that we understand. Jesus, our brother, prayed to God using the endearment, “Abba”. This is a most profound revelation. In that culture this was a baby’s first words to say, “Daddy”. How much did Jesus love His Father and God the Father love His only son? So very much that it goes beyond our devices of words to describe. To God we evoke the even more compassion than a parent has as she gazes into at her little baby and sees the helpless beauty of her beloved infant. To God we are His sweet babies. As God’s only begotten son, Jesus thought of His father truly as “Daddy”. This impressive fact comes back to me when I need to crawl up in His lap and cuddle for a while.

The triune almighty God is communal and relational with “itself”, (God, three in one), and desires the same pleasing communion with His creation to our benefit and His glory. Before mankind, the love was so good, God desired it for His special creation to experience it also. He formed and personally breathed life into us. Family is only the closest picture we have of this prodigious power of Love.

Sometimes “father” or “mother” has a negative connotation because of abuse in childhood. The notion of God being neither male nor female asserts that God is above and beyond the flaws of gender and human shortcomings. God is not a “mean little man”, as my sister said when it rained during her high school graduation party. It may help us so much more to think of Him as the perfect mother or father we always wanted. He is more than our human experience would have us believe.

I found myself praying to God the other night. Praying to my holy parent to save me from my corrupted perceptions– These things that make “Him” impotent in my life, by my design. Like Jackie, if I need a “mother” to talk to, or feel loved by, surely He will be that for me. If I need a “Daddy”, He is there. I believe we shouldn’t let pronouns limit what God can do for us. He is bigger and stronger than human language, and God will always take us in loving arms and hold us close.

I hope your heart and mind can open to all that God is for you. “He” can be “She”. God can provide for us where ever we are, and fill whatever void is in our heart. Is God our Mother? Yes, indeed and much more!