As a spiritual guide and teacher, I often encourage people to think about God in new and different ways. One way that can be particularly powerful is to think about God as a Mother. Before someone throws a stone at me. In the Hebrew and Christian Bible, God is usually described in male terms in biblical sources, with female analogy in Genesis 1:26-27, Psalm 123:2-3, and Luke 15:8-10; a mother in Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2; and a mother hen in Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34.
BUT when we do this, it can bring the world to a standstill – it’s as if the feminine aspect of God dilutes the miraculous, when in reality it embodies it.
We often celebrate when Jesus turns water into wine, but when women turn their breasts into milk, we often react with discomfort or even disdain. This demonstrates the ways in which we devalue the feminine and maternal, even within a religious context. The broken body of a man is celebrated every Sunday, while the broken body of a woman is often hidden away, as if it is something to be ashamed of.
It’s no surprise that the word “mother” is often used by men as a way to demonize those who don’t conform to traditional gender roles, and to shame those who challenge authority. But when we think about God as a mother, she is neither quiet nor compliant. She leads with confidence, she questions authority, and she commands respect. And perhaps this is the problem – seeing God as a mother means seeing God in ourselves, and that can be uncomfortable. It requires us to confront and challenge our own biases and limitations.
But to disentangle God from motherhood is impossible, and to disentangle God from womanhood is sinful. Seeing God as a mother brings us one step closer to understanding the divine within us, and it’s in that understanding that we are truly reborn. It allows us to embrace the fullness of who we are, and to recognize the inherent divinity in all of creation. It requires us to recognize the sacred in the mundane, and to find meaning and purpose in the everyday.
But when we think of God as a mother, she is neither quiet nor compliant. She leads with confidence, she questions authority, and she commands respect. And perhaps that’s the problem – seeing God as a mother means seeing God in ourselves, and that can be uncomfortable. But to disentangle God from motherhood is impossible, and to disentangle God from womanhood is sinful. Seeing God as a mother brings us one step closer to understanding the divine within us, and it’s in that understanding that we are truly reborn.
