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REFLECTIONS
Like a mother

Roxanne Willems Snopek

Isaiah 66:12-13

“Mother is the name of God in the lips and hearts of little children,” wrote William Makepeace Thackery over a century ago. The idea of God as a mother is uncomfortable to many, but this maternal love is beautifully illustrated throughout the Bible.

Isaiah 49:15 (NRSV) says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

In Hosea 13:6-8 God’s fiercely protective love is portrayed as that of “a bear robbed of her cubs.”

Jeremiah 31:20 describes God’s love for Ephraim: “My womb trembles for him; I will surely have motherly compassion on him, says the LORD.”

But the description of God’s love that most warms my heart is in Isaiah 66:12-13: “For thus says the Lord: As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” In those moments when the fragile outer shell of adulthood cracks, and I flail, defenceless, wordless and needy as a child, God is there to hold me, give me strength and calm my fears, with all the loving tenderness of a mother.

Reflections is a column of brief reflections on Scripture passages. This one is by Roxanne Willems Snopek of Abbotsford, B.C. Freelance submissions (200-250 words in length) are welcome.

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Last modified October 13, 1999.

© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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