Explore maternal metaphors for the divine and connect with the nurturing 'womb love' of a compassionate God.

Religion

Awakening

Spiritual

Christianity

English

What do you see when you imagine what God looks like? This meditation invites you to learn about the feminine metaphors for God in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and experience the nurturing, tender, mothering side of God's love.

Womb Love

 Close your eyes and begin to enter the present moment, temporarily leaving behind what already happened today or what still needs to happen. Listen to your breath. No need to change it, just notice it. Notice any outside noises. Notice the temperature of the air on your skin. Notice anywhere your body feels uncomfortable and make any adjustments needed to find ease. Now, a question for you to consider. What does God look like? What's the first image that comes to your mind? Do you immediately see some kind of Santa Claus looking man, maybe skinnier but definitely with a long beard? Because if so, I hear you. In my post college years, I used to imagine myself sitting in white, male God's lap often as a way to find comfort. I was taught my whole life that God is my Father and to be sure, God is referred to with many metaphors of fatherhood throughout the Bible. However, I have learned recently that God is also referred to with many metaphors of motherhood, especially in the Hebrew Scriptures. Let me read you a few. Psalm 131 verse 2, voice translation. Of one thing I am certain, my soul has become calm, quiet, and contented in you. Like a weaned child resting upon his mother, I am quiet. My soul is like this weaned child. Isaiah 49, 15, and 16, voice translation. Is it possible for a mother, however disappointed, however hurt, to forget her nursing child? Can she feel nothing for the baby she carried and birthed? Even if she could, I, God, will never forget you. Look here, I have made you a part of me, written you on the palms of my hands. Your city walls are always on my mind, always my concern. Deuteronomy 32, 18, CSP translation. You ignored the rock who gave birth to you. You forgot the God who gave birth to you. And in Luke 13, 34, Jesus says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing. I'm not here to try and convince you that God is actually a woman, surprise. I'm here to help you loosen your association with God as a man and expand your vision for who God is and what God looks like. In the evangelical Christian tradition that raised me, I didn't know of very many female spiritual role models or any female images of the divine. I clearly remember in high school wondering how Jesus could possibly relate to me, a teenage girl. Ultimately, we know that God transcends gender. God's not a man or a woman, yet we're very comfortable typically referring to God with he, him pronouns. And I know many, many people are super uncomfortable with the use of she, her pronouns when it comes to the divine. The truth is that God created both male and female in God's own image. So that has to mean that as a woman, I reflect aspects of the image of God. I believe that means even my unique female body parts and functions reflect an aspect of God. I'm going to give you a moment here to sit and reflect on how you feel when you consider what I've shared so far. And I also want to acknowledge that I'm using gendered language here because I kind of want to explore this interplay between traditionally we imagine and refer to God as male and trying to balance that out with the female. But I want to acknowledge that there are some people who don't identify with either of these genders. So let it all rise up. Give it space. If you feel uncomfortable, just let yourself feel it. And then after this little space, I'm going to share one of my favorite things that I've learned this year about the Hebrew Scriptures. Amen. I learned recently that Biblical Hebrew has a word for love that also means womb. The word is written in English as Raham and the English translations used are womb, tender love, compassion, pity, and mercy. So this word is used in a literal sense to mean womb in the Bible. The Hebrew word translated in English as compassion is Rehmet which comes from that Hebrew root word. This understanding of compassion is deeply maternal rooted in these metaphors of birthing and motherhood. In modern times we think of compassion as meaning sympathy or concern for the suffering of others. But here with this Hebrew sense of compassion we define it as womb love. Womb love is what someone feels for their unborn or newborn baby. Parents expect no response from their infant. They care for the baby through the night, day after day with no thanks, providing for every single need. In Hosea 11 4 Yahweh says, I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them. This is one of the most intimate forms of love that I can think of. This caring affection, this unconditional love, God depicted as a nursing mother. And the image is also really powerful for me personally because I spent countless hours nursing my babies, holding them close in my arms, sustaining them with my own life, lifting them to my cheeks. In one of my favorite books, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd, she notes that mothers are the ones who uniquely understand the meaning of the words that Jesus speaks at the Last Supper. This is my body broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you. Growing, birthing and feeding babies are all sacred acts, a reflection of God's love for us. You don't have to hold the title of mother to reflect this aspect of God. Think of someone else that you love, perhaps a niece or nephew, God's son, God daughter, or another child in your care who you deeply, intimately love and feel delighted over. Bring up an image of someone that you love in this way and think about those small details that you have memorized. Think about the times when you lifted that sweet child to your cheek. And a few minutes basking in those heartwarming feelings that you experienced. There's a passage in Exodus that is quoted and re-quoted throughout the Bible. This passage, Exodus 34, 6-7, is referenced in the Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Old Testament, more than 27 times, emphasizing its significance. And this makes sense. These verses are the first place where God describes what God is like. In this story, Moses meets God up on Mount Sinai and God passes by Moses saying, Yahweh, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness. Did you catch that? The first word used to describe God is compassionate. And yes, it's that word, re-hemet, womb love, tender, responsive, compassionate, mothering God. This phrase is repeated throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, as I noted before, in Nehemiah, in multiple Psalms, in the book of Jonah, Joel, and Numbers. It's used most often by people who are returning to God and trusting God's forgiveness. One of my favorite places this pops up is in Jonah 4. The chapter is titled, Jonah's Anger at the Lord's Compassion. Jonah doesn't want God to save the sinful Ninevites and angrily says, I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. And one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 103, quotes this passage as well. Here's verse 8 and 12. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us. And so I return back to my first question. What does God look like? Are you able to close your eyes and imagine this tender, responsive mothering God? I will leave some space now and then end the meditation. Feel free to remain here in this quiet place, encountering God in a fresh way. I'll see you in the next one.