Mother’s Day can be a happy or sad day, according to our circumstances. I just wanted to reach out to all of those of you who have either lost your mother or have never really known a mother’s love.
I had a difficult mother (especially during my teenage days!) but because I went to a Christian Science Sunday school, I was aware of God as Mother from an early age and three wonderful women came into my life as “surrogate” mothers. There was Alison, who had a young family of her own, who just enfolded me into the love and joy of her family, then, when I moved to England, I also had an amazing aunt, Audrey, who had infinite love for everyone in the whole extended family. And then when I started flying, there was Siloo in Bombay, the aunt of my then boyfriend, but whose family I have stayed close to, decades after the boyfriend and I parted.
All these women brought companionship, nurturing, comforting, guiding and unconditional love into my life and I am endlessly grateful for them, but I know where those qualities came from – from divine Love. God shines, we are the shine.
In the Hebrew Bible, (the old Testament) one of the many names for God is El Shaddai, or the breasted one; one who nourishes, supplies, and satisfies. There are many Bible verses that bring out the Motherhood of God, like in Ps 91, (the Psalm of Protection) – here are a couple of verses in the feminine:
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She shall cover thee with her feathers, and under her wings shalt thou trust:…
For She shall give her angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Years ago, in a bookshop in Norfolk, I picked up a little book called “Revelations of divine Love” by Julian of Norwich as I was immediately attracted by the title. In 1373 Julian of Norwich (not her real name) had a series of sixteen visions of being taught by the crucified Jesus on her death bed (which healed her). As I read her wonderful insights about the Motherhood of God, Love and how everything is good, and how all will be well, it all felt so familiar. Here are a few passages that are so inspiring:
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"...and so I saw that God rejoices that he is our father and God rejoices that he is our mother and God rejoices that he is our true husband and our soul his beloved wife."
".....I saw that he is to us everything which is good and comforting for our help. He is our clothing, who wraps and enfolds us for love, embraces us and shelters us, surrounds us for his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us. And so in this sight I saw that he is everything which is good, as I understand.
And in this he showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed to me, and it was round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and thought: What can this be? I was amazed that it would suddenly have fallen in to nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will, because God loves it: and thus everything has being through the love of God."
That so reminds me of these words of Mary Baker Eddy’s:
[COLOR="Blue"]God is our Father and our Mother, our Minister and the great Physician: He is man's only real relative on earth and in heaven. (Miscellaneous Writings 151)
"I saw the love of God encircling the universe and man, filling all space, and that divine Love so permeated my own consciousness that I loved with Christlike compassion everything I saw. The realization of divine Love called into expression “the beauty of holiness, the perfection of being.” (Science and Health p 253) which healed, and regenerated, and saved all who turned to me for help.” (Reminiscences by Abigail Dyer Thompson in We Knew Mary Baker Eddy p 68)
I saw many connections between her and Mrs Eddy. I have always loved the wonderful description in 12 Years with Mary Baker Eddy by Tomlinson that begins:
"I wish I could make the world know what I saw when Mrs Eddy looked at those children. it was a revelation to me. I saw for the first time the real Mother-Love, and I knew I did not have it. I had a strange, agonised sense of being absolutely cut off from the children. it is impossible to put into words what the uncovering of my own lack of real Mother-Love meant to me.
As I turned in the procession and walked toward the line of trees in the front of the yard, there was a bird sitting on the limb of a tree, and I saw the same love, poured out on that bird that I had seen flow from Mrs Eddy to my children. I looked down at the grass and the flowers and there was the same Love resting on them. it is difficult for me to put into words what I saw. This Love was everywhere, like the light, but it was divine, not mere human affection.I looked at the people milling around on the lawn and I saw it poured out on them. I thought of the various discords ……. and I saw, for the first time, the absolute unreality of everything but this infinite Love. It was not only everywhere present, like the light, but it was an intelligent presence that spoke to me, and I found myself weeping as I walked back and forth under the trees and saying out loud, "Why have I never known you before? Why have I not known you always?"
I don’t know how long it was until my boy came to me and said, "Come, mother, they are going home." I got into the carriage and drove back to the hotel, but that same conscious intelligence and Love were everywhere. It rested upon everything my thoughts rested upon."
When we got back to the hotel, there was no boil on my child’s head. it was just as flat as the back of her hand……" (12 Years with Mary Baker Eddy. I.C. Tomlinson)
Each of us is enfolded in Love, by our heavenly Father-Mother, now and forever!
Love and peace,
Judy
Hi Judy,
I didn't know until this year, when it's been pointed out to me, that "Mother's Day" in the UK until fairly recently used to be "Mothering Sunday", the purpose of which was actually to have the day off work in order to visit your mother (or nearest, usually) church, and also to honour the Virgin Mary.
Mother's Day as we now know it was more an American invention, on a different date, and in time our own tranmogrified (or have I invented that word? 😮 ) into a copy of America's.
V
In the Hebrew Bible, (the old Testament) one of the many names for God is El Shaddai, or the breasted one; one who nourishes, supplies, and satisfies. There are many Bible verses that bring out the Motherhood of God, like in Ps 91, (the Psalm of Protection) – here are a couple of verses in the feminine:
She shall cover thee with her feathers, and under her wings shalt thou trust:…For She shall give her angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
That's lovely, Judy.
A few years ago I attended a seminar delivered by a yogi during the course of which he described the qualities of God in the aspect of the Mother.
His description was very much as the psalm describes, and what he said was so moving that one member of his audience burst into tears.
It transpired that because of this lady's particular life experience she had a very difficult time relating the God in the masculine. For her to suddenly realise that God could be the Mother changed her life, and it also transformed her relationship with the Divine.
I didn't know until this year, when it's been pointed out to me, that "Mother's Day" in the UK until fairly recently used to be "Mothering Sunday", the purpose of which was actually to have the day off work in order to visit your mother (or nearest, usually) church, and also to honour the Virgin Mary.
In Wales Mother's Day is still Sul y Mamau, David; 'Mother's Sunday', and it retains the idea that the date is a holy day. I think I remember reading that it was originally a pagan festival in honour of the Earth Goddess, and in later centuries was adopted to honour Mary.
Thanks Judy this was a beautiful post. I remember today being referred to as mothering Sunday when I was young but as the years grew it became another day hijacked by consumerism. Tv ad at the mo highlights this, cant remember which store but saying go on "why buy flowers or chocs or cookery books, why not buy all"
I remember being about 8 and moaning because I had to go with my aunt and visit a few elderly women in the community with some hand picked flowers. i was grumping because I didnt know them and couldn't understand why my aunt was going, as they were not her mother. Until she kindly pointed out that they had been someones mother and that their children were now gone. That gesture always stuck with me as one of the kind ways we can affect each other if we see past our immediate families.
Personally I associate this day with mother earth. Coz as the mother of a load of teenagers I am thinking just now that I have been cursed and not blessed:D:D
Linda x
In Wales Mother's Day is still Sul y Mamau, David; 'Mother's Sunday', and it retains the idea that the date is a holy day. I think I remember reading that it was originally a pagan festival in honour of the Earth Goddess, and in later centuries was adopted to honour Mary.
That makes sense. I can well believe it.
V
Thanks everyone for your posts!
Personally I associate this day with mother earth. Coz as the mother of a load of teenagers I am thinking just now that I have been cursed and not blessed:D:D
That cracked me up Linda! :p
Love and peace
Judy
ahaha! Linda, you made me bark laughing!
yes, a beautiful post Judy. I never imagined it could be but now it makes sense. all the feminine devine couldnt have all disappeared.
I wish mothers were regarded more highly than they are. I wish their job was placed way high on the list above business men and their skills valued.
I wish they were admired for their most important and tough work.
said from someone who is (rarely) shouting at her wee dog and cant start thinking how she will cope someday with screaming babies and deeply annoying teenagers.
I agree Fadette,
Motherhood is probably the most important human activity there is! It can make or break families and communities and with the ripple effect, influence how whole countries progress (or don't).
Here are a few observations on human motherhood (and fatherhood) by Mary Baker Eddy:
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A mother is the strongest educator, either for or against crime. (Science and Health 236)
Is not the propagation of the human species a greater responsibility, a more solemn charge, than the culture of your garden or the raising of stock to increase your flocks and herds? Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be transmitted to children. (S&H 61)
The entire education of children should be such as to form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law...
Children should be allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should become men and women only through growth in the understanding of man's higher nature. (S&H 62)
Beloved children, the world has need of you, — and more as children than as men and women: it needs your innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontaminated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that you preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through contact with the world. (Miscellaneous Writings 110)
They rather tie up with your thread on the evil of television. I know of families where the TV is the baby sitter (it is on all the time, indiscriminately), which makes it the main educator and I have seen tragic results.
And don't get me started on those mothers who dress their tiny tots up in high heels, provocative fashion, make-up etc, (the sex-ing up of children) it is so so sad that these little ones are just losing their precious childhood and their innocence in order to live out some fantasy of their mother.
Love and peace,
Judy
"The Death Game" game show experiment has made me rethink a few things, especially regarding tv and other media. IF I have children someday, I think I may well take a radical approach at the beginning. I think its more me who needs radical rules than the kids 🙂 ...because Ive been watching too much tv (even if I avoid all violence) and I would need a strong clear frame to start with, then I would relax the rules but make sure the teenagers a) dont have a tv in their bedroom (scarily by the time Ive got kids TV will be downloadable on mobilephones, no doubt. and there's the internet issue, even worse...sigh...) b) dont become glued AND isolated in another room to a screen.
Was watching a tv doc (am quite embarassed to quote any tv related thing now!) where emotionally "challenged" teens (ok, brats) agreed to be sent abroad to a very strict family for one week to see if they d learn something. I bet it is some US or UK tv import. nevermind. I was cynical at the start of the program but then it seemed to work. those sent to extreme poverty stricken countries like an African country i cant remember the name of went through the biggest change.
They were shocked to realized how rich they were by comparison. and they saw the level of respect, happiness and love other kids had, even when some came from trauma (and we re talking deep trauma like rape).
At first they were laughing at the parents, and at their rules but then softened and back home reported how moved they were because for once they werent shouted at but were told very calmly but firmly what to do. basically they had admiration for the emotionally stable and strong "adoptive" parents. Stability and calm were the keys, it seems. and deep down, love.
of course once back into their materialist environment close to their "friends" they broke the promises they had made with the African family. One girl blamed her friends as bad influence...
going off topic, but like you I think Mothers arent valued enough. I remember a collague at work who told me, at 45 years old how at an interview for another job she was told "so! you havent done anything during those last 18 years, have you?". Ive never had kids but having taught the brats I can well believe it is the opposite, she has done more than a job! how insulting that employer was (well just hadnt a clue).
Don't be embarrassed about watching TV Fadette - there is a lot of good stuff on it - educational, enlightening, entertaining. It just needs discrimination, that's all! If I were a parent, I would never allow my children to have a television in their rooms where they could watch what they wanted! Shudder.
I watched several of those reality shows where out of control kids were sent to radically different homes with strict discipline and became quite fascinated with them. I remember having a conversation with Sunanda (I think somewhere on one of the threads) about what an eye-opener they were.
To me, what they proved is that actually, all children need boundaries and that they actually feel better about themselves when they are clear about what is right and wrong and have to bow to some discipline. All the programmes I watched brought out to the teenagers how their wrong choices can negatively impact on others as well as themselves and as a result they turned into more cooperative and responsible young people, though one does wonder if they keep it up once back home!
Love and peace,
Judy
Yes you are right about the eye-opener/strict parents trial.
I never used to think strict parents were any good because I was myself quite an annoying rebel when young(er!) and hated all forms of instituionalised authority as I saw it as brain washing and wanting submission from me.
Now I've seen those kids on tv, how they suffer deep down because of their constant fight with their parents and society...and how they blossom in a loving and calm environment, I can see how children/teenagers need love (quite obviously) but also a clear and strong frame which are rules and principles. These provide stability and "roots" in my opinion to the child. They feel more grounded and at peace...
I am giving my TV away. that's the effect the documentary (see the thread "TV makes us evil?") has had on me. It has reminded me that along my whole life I used to think exactly what the sociologists and philosophers said on TV: makes you passive + isolated + empoverish your imagination and energy. I want my old self back, when i didnt own a tv and had plenty other things to do (ok, it will probably mean I'll spend money on renting films to watch them on my computer but hey, at least there s a precise "start" and "end" to the watching).