Motherhood is about reverencing, protecting, and nurturing life…
So, what exactly is spiritual motherhood?
Glad you asked! Let’s look first at some key attributes of natural motherhood. Moms are the first conduits of life; with God working in and through them new life comes to be. This awesome intimacy with the Creator should inspire a profound reverence. Then once a child is conceived, the mother is the primary protector of the new life. It seems to me her role is one of affirmation. The little one is a unique human being for whom God has a definite plan here on earth and a place of glory in eternity. That leads right into the third attribute, which is perhaps the one that comes most readily to mind: nurturer. The nurturing a child receives from his mother will, to a large extent, be the single most powerful influence on the development of his potential.
Now we’re ready to look at spiritual motherhood. Let’s take those three attributes we identified above and look at each again.
Reverence for the spiritual life of others could be described as treading on holy ground. Grace in a soul is the very life of God in that soul. When we intercede for others before God, we beg that He will fill their soul with grace, with His life. Does that remind you of anything? How about when Scripture says that, “God breathed life into him”? In this way, a woman who may have no natural bond with another person may actually participate in the awesome act of bringing new life into his soul. The protective love of a mother expressed through affirmation doesn’t require a sticker or a trophy. To be honest, I think my most frequent form of affirmation is a simple but heartfelt smile. It says, “I noticed you. You are good!” Many, many people today, despite tough exteriors, are really very fragile on the inside. They need to know it’s okay, that they are valued, that someone treasures the goodness in them. And nurturer? The spiritual mother knows that this earth is not our final destination. She will not settle to see anyone content with “good enough” but rather desires and works that they will obtain the true glory for which they were created.
I heard a long time ago that while some women are called to be only spiritual mothers, no woman is called to be only a natural mother. So lest anyone think labor and deliver deprives you of a “higher calling,” know that by the very fact you have a little (or no longer little) person you can call your child, you are called to be a spiritual mother. And that’s for life!
