If a newborn baby is given to it's father whose body is not able to sustain the child's life, the baby will suffer & die. Even an unexperienced mother  has within her power the ability give and sustain life. What is interesting is that while her calories are transferred to another life, her "battery" is not depleted but rather charged by the transfer. Mother love is then generative.

Nothing tells the story of sacrifice and self-giving for the sake of raising up life more than being a mother. That is why it is disappointing to me that our religious language has been so slow to adopt images of God as mother. Inclusive, expansive, generative and unconditional love makes God the ultimate mother.

If we take a step back from the miracle of nursing a newborn, we recognize that self-giving and sacrifice are not limited to new mothers. Fathers, parents who adopt, step-parents, caretakers, relatives and friends are all those who can and do sacrifice themselves for the raising of others. Once a person reaches adulthood, there are countless people & professionals who give their lives to sustain the raising up of our lives. Thus, when we engage in serving others, our sacrifice & calories are spent to build new life. We all get to participate in motherhood.

Our society has a sad trend of people who would diminish motherhood. Since we all benefit from the self-giving of others, it seems odd that any person would later turn to resent it. I can only assume a great wound has created this kind of callous. Ironically, only a motherly experience can mend it.

Some of our mothers are still with us, pouring into us. Some have passed and yet still somehow pour their resilient influence into our lives. If we had a selfish or cruel mother, then we were likely mothered by someone other than our life-giver.

Take a moment to identify and honor the mother/mothers of your life. You are here because someone gave of themselves so that you could live. Motherhood is a retelling of the Christ story and not a single person on the planet gets to live without it's influence.

It is now our turn to go and spend our calories to raise up new life. Engage your world as a mother. Our world desperately needs it. We need what motherhood produces in us.