May 2010
Dear Mt. Zion Friends,
Throughout college and seminary, my friends used to joke that the umbilical cord that attached me to my mother could stretch an awfully long way. They were right—I am a Mama’s Girl through and through. I can remember as a child, clinging desperately to her when she would send me off to school. I can remember wanting her to be at every sporting event, musical concert and special event that I ever participated in. I can remember crying with her in church each year as we sang the Hallelujah Chorus at Christmas. The truth is, my mother and I are connected like two magnets—we gravitate towards each other, and it’s not just because she is my mother, she is also a very dear friend.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the compelling draw that some people have on our lives, and during this month of May, it seems appropriate to especially think about the women who have touched our lives through their nurturing and teaching. Some of them are still with us, and others have completed this life and moved on to their Loving Creator.
As I think of the gravitational pull, the sweet draw, the undying devotion that we feel towards these women—I think of our relationship to God. This month, I am considering the ways in which I allow God’s gravitational pull to draw me in… and also the ways that perhaps I don’t allow it.
Scripture tells us that God is indeed like a mother—God gives birth to us (Deut. 32: 18), God protects us like a bear robbed from her cubs (Hosea 13: 8), God shelters us under wings like a bird (Psalm 57:1, 61:4). Perhaps the best known image of God as a mother occurs when Jesus laments in Matthew (23: 37) and Luke (13:34), that God wants to gather us in like a hen protects her chicks—but we were not willing.
As we remember those who have special pull in our lives, let us also remember God and the pull that God should have in our lives. Do we gravitate to the will of God? Do we find that we simply can’t resist being in God’s company? Do we seek the comfort and love that only God can provide? This will be my challenge this month—to reconnect with God—to let myself be drawn in completely by the God who protects, loves, shelters, and guides us... and to be grateful to God for giving us the gift of mothers—we do the same thing!
Blessings to you all this beautiful spring season,
Pastor Danielle