QUIET STRENGTH

Took this picture yesterday of our 93 year old Mom during a birthday party for Noah, one of her 40+ great grandchildren. She remains the glue that bonds our family together.

And since the beginning of this month, I've been holding tight to my man card every time I receive a devotional from Sarah Bessey. Why? Because the devo is called "Jesus Feminist". Why would I read this kind of devotional? Because I've learned to pay attention to most things written by the author Sarah Bessey. Here is just one excerpt from her devotional. She calls it "Metaphors".

"If more mothers were pastors, we would likely have a lot more sermons and books about the metaphors of birth and pregnancy connecting us to the story of God. 

The whole story of birth--this creating out of passion and love, the carrying of an every-increasing beloved burden, the seemingly never-ending waiting, the knitting together of wonder in secret places, the under-the-surface fear, the pain, the labor, the blurring of that line between joy and “someone please make it stop,” the delivery of new life in blood and hope and humanity--this is the stuff of God.

There is something godly in the waiting, in the mystery, in the fact that we are a part of it--a partner with it but not the authors of it. You know that there is a new life coming, and the anticipation is sometimes exciting, other times exhausting and never ending. There is a price to pay for the privilege of life. The sacred and holy moments of a life are often our most raw, our most human moments, aren’t they?

My entire concept of God shifted through the experiences of pregnancy, loss, carrying babies, birth--and it left my brain and my life and my theology to catch up with what my soul now knew deep in the centre: God as Abba. I caught a glimpse behind the veil of his Father-Mother heart, and I drank deep."

So, what does this have to do with our Mom? Ever since discovering Sarah's writings, I have developed more respect for women generally; specifically for my wife, daughters and mother. Sarah's devotionals have also given me, a guy, an expanded concept of God. I guess that's not very manly talk, but no apologies.  Click HERE to view Sarah Bessey's website.