We tend to make our relationship with God intellectual. But sometimes, we make believing in God more about the head than the heart. What if we thought our relationship with God is less about getting the answers right and more about being like a newborn?
My infant does not know my birthday, my favorite color or my interests. But he does know my scent, my voice, even my heartbeat. He trusts me absolutely. What if we imagined our life with God as a time to get close and receive life-giving nourishment? What if we trusted God as an infant trusts her mama?
Can you imagine God’s work in the world as a woman in labor? Labor is painful, but it is also beautiful and miraculous. God’s redemptive activity in the world might lead to pain, but God’s work is also beautiful and miraculous and ultimately produces life.
God was with us at our births, urging us into the world. God is with us during times when we are reborn, giving direction and cradling our new life in Divine arms. Imagine God encouraging us as the nurse encourages the laboring mother!
This message is excerpted from “God as mother” by Michelle Terry in the May 2021 Café online magazine.
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