Mother – the word is synonymous with love and care. Oftentimes, God’s love is compared to a mother’s love for her child. We can experience God’s love in our mother’s love. Mother is an image of God, an icon of God’s presence and a tangible embrace of God’s gentleness. God as a mother loves us and embraces us with His everlasting kindness.
Uniqueness of Mother’s Love
The word “mother” uniquely emphasizes images of life- giving energy, self-giving love, and nurturing care. Mother’s love uniquely marks our human experience. The human child remains dependent on a mother and father longer than the offspring of any other species. A mother’s love for her children is one of the strongest and most mysterious forces in the world.
A mother brings new life into the world at the risk of her own life, a life she nurtures and defends. In the same way, we experience and describe God, who nurtures all His children and defends them. If believers can say ‘God is love’, their first and most powerful experience of human love usually starts in the womb and continues in the arms of a mother.
Loving Kindness of God
When a child is born, he/she begins to experience the love of the mother from that very moment. The first glimpse of a child brings greater joy and love in the heart of the mother. God love us the same way. As soon as we are formed in our mother’s womb, God sees our being that is still to be formed and pours out His love upon us.
1 John 4:9-10 says, “9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God demonstrated His love and kindness towards us when He sent His only Son Jesus to this world to lay down His life as a sacrifice for our sins.
Let us circle back to Isaiah 66:13 where God promises to care for us, love us and comfort us in our times of need just as a mother would do. Moreover, this promise is not just a one-time experience but it is ours to claim for every day of our lives. In every circumstance, God is with us to encourage us and carry us through, with His loving kindness.
Warmth of Mother’s Love
Dear friends, I also want to remind another verse from Isaiah 49:15-16, “15 Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” Even with all the uniqueness and warmth, it is possible for the mother’s love to wax cold. However, God reassures us that even in such circumstances, He will not forget us and His love for us will always remain warm and comforting. He keeps us engraved in the palm of His hands and watches over us night and day.
Last but not the least, I would like to share my experience of this warm and uplifting love in my life. Having born in a Hindu Brahmin family, it was my mother who encountered the love of Christ first in my family. Through her love and encouragement, I was introduced to the truth of the gospel. Not only did she birth me into this world, but was also instrumental in my salvation experience.
Every year, Mother’s Day is observed on the second Sunday in the month of May. It’s just one day in a year that has been set apart to honor mothers. Nonetheless, Mothers are God’s gift in our lives to tangibly experience His love and warmth, all day and every day of our lives as long as they are with us.
RANJANI KARTHIK