For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. Psalm 27:10
This week we’ve emphasized how we can relate to God as Mother. For some of us God as Mother is a new concept because femininity is not often ascribed to God. Yes, we certainly see how good mothers reflect the character of God. But, we don’t often make the bridge to admit how feminine qualities originate from the very nature of God and therefore God’s character is revealed to us through his feminine mothering attributes. God is Mother just as much as he is Father!
It’s important we admit this because though we all perceive and interact with God uniquely, it’s very common for our relationship with our earthly mother to psychologically affect the way we relate to God. Many times we project a relational reality with our parents onto our relationship with God without realizing it – especially our mothers. If our mother loved us unconditionally, served us sacrificially, and cheered us on toward growth and maturity, we can easily attribute those qualities to God. If our mother was physically or emotionally absent, struggled to see our good qualities, or rigid in her expectations of us, it’s possible we also attribute these qualities to God. Perhaps this is why God feels distant or we think that he’s not proud of who we’ve become or that we’ll never do enough to reach his expectations.
Our human mothers are never going to be perfect, but they do affect our relationship with God. It’s healthy for us to recognize lies we’ve adopted about God simply because of a complicated relationship with our mother. Take a few minutes to process your relationship with your mother today and move toward freeing yourselves from any lies this may have caused you to believe.
1. What did your mom provide and what did she fail to provide for you growing up?
2. What qualities of your mom do you think you ascribe to God?
3. Which of these qualities of your mom are untrue of God?
Finish with a prayer of forgiveness for what your mom didn’t provide for you or what lies you may have unintentionally picked up along the way.
By Yvonne Biel
