Relentless Love

Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! - Isaiah 49:15

Growing up, my mother was my best friend. I would admire her every trait, even her flaws were of the noble kind according to me, so much so that I would gladly claim to have inherited those flaws like a badge of honor. So, the verse above that compared God’s love to a mother’s, to me reflected the perfection that is a mother and all things easy and perfect about a mother’s love, just like God’s. Although as I got older, I realized how humanly imperfect my mother was, and how her flaws were actual flaws that I honestly do not want to inherit, no matter how much I love her. And now, being a mother myself, I know for a fact that I am flawed, imperfect, falling short of all the “perfect mom” traits. There have already been days where I've thought I'm not cut out for the hard work motherhood entails, or where I've made blatantly wrong decisions for my child that burst my illusion that mothers have the answer to everything!

Then why would God use the term "mother", such as the likes of me, in comparison to Him? I realize now, it clearly isn’t to show His perfection or Holiness, which He has demonstrated using more accurate illustrations in various other instances in the Bible. What is it then that is comparable? - The imperfection of the ones that are to be loved, the children, us – the children of God. The relentlessness of a mother’s love. The kind of love that shows up, stays, and loves you through the worst. Being a new mom, it’s easy for me right now to love this cute little innocent being, so untouched by the corruption of the world, but as a mother - the vow I make is to love my child beyond the cuteness, beyond the innocence, into the teenage years, into an adulthood that may or may not be the one I hoped for them to have. That’s the vow, that’s the promise.

I recently read this quote that said something along the lines of - "Don’t have and raise children keeping a record of the things you’ve done for them, hoping they owe you for it all their life and pay back their debt in the form of love, time, or obedience". And that made so much sense to me. The very nature of God’s love is that it is unconditional, He does not love us because we obey Him, or love Him, or can do anything at all for Him in return. He loves us merely because we are His, and He is who He is. Now if we choose to love Him and obey Him it is because we are already loved by Him, it is not our way to earn His love. We don’t have to earn it, and we cannot. Much like a mother’s love, only infinitely multifold.

This Mother’s day, may those of us who are mothers imitate the true giver of unconditional love. And may all of us as children, whether we have earthly mothers or not, rest safe in the knowledge that we are loved unconditionally, despite every flaw and every failure. We are not measured against the record of our wrongs, nor are we expected to repay the debt of things done for us or sacrifices made for our sake. We are loved just because we are His. And we ought to love because HE first loved us.

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you. - Isaiah 66:13

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