05/14/2023
1Peter 3:4
“Let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle smile and a quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.”
Today is Mother’s Day – a day in which we celebrate and honor our earthly mothers for bringing us into this world, loving us, sharing their hearts with us, nurturing us, inspiring us, and then sending us on our way to establish our own lives. Whether by birth or other means, today we give thanks to these special people who have so brilliantly revealed God’s guiding light and have always done what they thought was best for us.
If we are here today, we have our mother partly to thank for this miracle. Some of our mothers are still in their bodies; others have moved on to pure spirit. Our love and appreciation does not change. Kind, warm, loving, and appreciative thoughts will always reach those on the other side of the veil.
We must concede that not all mothers in the world have done a great job by some standards; perhaps, many were burdened in ways that prevented them from providing all the emotional support they or we would have liked. Yet didn’t they do a sufficient job? Since we are here, God wanted us to be here and our mother was the vehicle to make that happen…and of course next month we honor the other half of that miracle.
But it is today that we say thank you Mom. Call her Mom, Mother, Mummy, Mommy, Momma, or as our daughter Rebecca when in middle school referred to Mary as her biological female parental unit, the love is the same; our appreciation is the same.
There are wonderful dualities that we must embrace as we move through our lives: our human nature and our spiritual nature; our divine masculine natures – the Father within, and our Divine Feminine natures – just to name two of the many dichotomies that we are and that we experience.
No, it is not Biblical to refer to God as our Divine Mother, just as it is not Biblical to refer to God as our friend. That is not written in the Bible, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Everything in the Bible may be true, but not everything true is in the Bible. “This too shall pass”, is not Biblical, but it is still true. The Bible does say in 2 Corinthians 4:17 “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” So although some truths are not stated in the Bible overtly, there are references that bring that truth into focus.
I believe that about the Divine Mother description. Because we are a child of God, we are each an amalgamation of Spirit, which is an ungendered essence, neither masculine nor feminine, within a gendered physical form. The feminine nature is characterized by gentleness and a nurturing embrace of all life. The Bible makes references to these motherly qualities. In Isaiah 42:14, “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.” Then in Deuteronomy 32:11-12 we read: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them, and carries them aloft.”
Although the Bible does not refer to God as “Mother”, there are certainly feminine/motherly qualities that describe God. Dr. Ernest Holmes refers to this Feminine Principle as the Universal Womb of Nature. It is that omnipresent nature of God that sustains Creation, nurtures all living things without exclusion. Our divine feminine is most succinctly characterized by unconditional love.
Although it is often easier for a woman to be in contact with that feminine nature, it is not denied to men. We just occasionally have to dig a little deeper, abandon a little more ego, and accept it as part of us in order to fully express it.
But it is a more natural part of being a woman. I noticed it in the way that Mary and I dealt with our children leaving the house and setting off on their own, getting married, and establishing their own lives. I saw this as a source of pride in my children: they did it, we did it! They were striking off on their own; they were adults. I don’t see them so much as my children anymore, but as my friends and peers. We’ve made it to adulthood together, and now we get to spend the rest of our lives as adults enjoying each other’s gifts, talents, and personalities.
I don’t think Mary saw it the same way. I can’t speak for her, but from what I observed, the kids were still our kids. They will always be our children. Mary, as will any mother, wants to love them, nurture them, provide for them…. The Divine Mother expresses easily through Mary towards our children, as it does from my own mother to my brother and me – despite our ages. In many mothers these feelings don’t have to be sought within, they are on the surface, and flow freely; they are expressed without reservation to all children.
Of course, not all earthly motherly love is perfect, just as not all fatherly love is perfect, and that is because it is filtered through our physical minds and egos. Violinist Fritz Kreisler once said, “My mother loved me so greatly that she never wanted me to leave Europe, but I wouldn’t be Kreisler today if I hadn’t out ruled the love of my mother.” Some love may start from God, but it can become selfish and controlling through our worldly filters.
I find there are many characteristics similar between God and a mother. A mother watches over and defends her child; so does God. A mother is concerned about caring and providing for her child; as is God. In Isaiah 66:13 we are told: “As a mother comforts her child — so will I comfort you….” In Isaiah 49:13 we read, “God comforts His children with all the forgiveness and consolation of a mother. How ready is she to forgive her erring, wandering child – and how ready to console in times of trouble.”
1 Kings 3:26-27 recounts the story of two women disputing the kinship of an infant and are before King Solomon: The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!" But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!" Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother."
This is unconditional selfless love: wanting no harm to her son, the true mother is willing to do anything – even give up the child – to protect him from harm. This is how God loves us, and is why I identify that aspect of God in my invocations to prayer: Heavenly Father, Divine Mother. The Divine Mother aspect of God is willing to “give us up” as we demand our independence and let our ego have its way. But She is always there loving us, protecting us, picking us up when we fall, and always awaiting our return to her warm embrace.
Jesus loved and honored his mother. He also identified the spiritual mother characteristics within himself and others. In John 12:48-50 when told that his mother and brothers were outside wanting to speak with him, he replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” This is not an affront to his physical mother, but rather a recognition of the complex and intimate inner relationship with Spirit.
The Divine Mother aspect of God is recognized in only a few denominations of Christianity. Yet in many belief systems, especially with an Eastern inference, the Divine Feminine nature is very significant and has deep personal meaning.
It is sometimes easier for me personally to feel God’s presence in the form of the Divine Mother than as a Heavenly Father. Now realize that God is neither masculine nor feminine, and often when I sit quietly, I will gently call to the Divine Mother and get a response through a feeling of joy, a tickle in my abdomen or tingle of energy up my spine. That is my clue that the Divine Mother nature is making Herself known.
So, today, whether they are still in bodies or in pure spirit, we give thanks to our own physical Mother who brought us into this world. We honor them for doing their fundamental job of giving birth to us and forgive them of any deficits in maternal instincts after that. We thank and honor all the women who have nurtured us and cared for us whether they have been grandmothers, aunts, sisters, teachers, coworkers, friends, or strangers. We give thanks for the Divine Mother nature within us that whispers support and love to our hearts, that nurtures us, and expresses through us to others as giving, sharing, compassion, and love.
Thank You God, for the love of Mothers. Happy Mother’s Day!