Saturday, January 30, 2021

mothering

 Little Love has a bedtime book called Snuggle Time Psalms. There's the sweetest rendition of Psalm 91 that describes God as a Mommy bird, keeping a little baby warm and safe.

"As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the Most High,

and resides in the protective shadow of the Sovereign One--

I say this about the LORD, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust--

God will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter and from the destructive plague.

God will shelter you with (Mama bird) wings;

You will find safety under God's wings." -Psalm 91:1-4 NET.


It's funny how a book for my own child challenges my thinking about God as mothering. I've known God to be caring. I've known God to be protective. I've known God to be powerful and gentle all at once. I've known God to be slow to anger, compassionate, kind and just. So why not mothering?

I take obnoxious care to refer to God as "God" and without pronouns for my Little Love. We're in the stage of potty training where we talk about penises more than I hope we will in the future. I want my own child to have a large enough perception of God's holiness to not insist that God has a penis, too. Yet here in the mess of a national Church obsessed with gender issues, we see that God shelters and gives safety. It's what Mama birds do. Comforting. Rescuing. Protecting.

I have been blessed with an abundance of mothers in my life. My biological family is blessed with excellent mothers at every generation. By marriage and friendship, Church fellowship and intentional pursuit, I am grateful for a tribe of mothers who showcase God's greatest strengths. I mother because I am mothered well.

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Ephesians 5

Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:

“Awake, O sleeper!

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!”

Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

hey guys