I want to take a moment to highlight a blog post I came across this Mother’s Day.
http://mikefrost.net/ferocious-motherly-love-god
“On Mother’s Day there were plenty of references to mothers being kind and present, and about their wisdom and guidance and gentleness. No doubt all true. But what about their ferocious, protective, unyielding love and loyalty?”
I am not a mother. I do not know for sure whether my husband and I will choose to have children and whether it will be biologically or through adoption. I have a husband I am absolutely crazy about, friends that I would move mountains for, and 3 younger siblings for whom I feel a fierce need to protect.
These relationships are the deepest and most meaningful parts of my life- and yet they do not come close to the love that a mother has for her child. I have had people describe me as a “Mother Bear” when it comes to my siblings (we were forged in fire after all) and woe to the person who dares be mean to my husband, but I don’t delude myself into thinking I am even scratching the surface of the Ferocity of Motherly Love.
That’s why I was so happy to see this post from Mike Frost. Frost shares the experience of the first Mother’s Day he spent after his mother passed away, and how he found comfort in “The ferocious motherly love of God”.
I’ve spent some time explaining the feminine image of God in the creation story, but these feminine images of God are found throughout the Bible, enriching our divine experience.
…the more you think about it, the more obvious it becomes that ferocity is one of the primary characteristics of mothers.
Frost mentions a specific Hebrew word- chesed , which is difficult to accurately translate into english as we only have one word for love. Chesed is often translated to “mercy”, “steadfast love” or “ loving kindness”. It is a deeper, unchanging love. It is the kind of love a Mother showers on her children- with fresh mercies each morning (Lamentations 3:22).
Forgive me for being late on a Mother’s Day post. I wasn’t planning on posting for Mother’s day at all but I had to share this with you. When you see the steadfast, ferocious, and unyielding love of the mothers in your life (or you’ve experienced the absence of such love)- may you also deeply feel the ferocious motherly love that The Divine feels for you.
