Article April 10, 1989 Issue

What constitutes motherhood?

The Christian Science Monitor

Widely discussed cases involving "surrogate mothers," and other recent events in our society, have prompted many people to consider more deeply what constitutes motherhood. Such issues, and their implications in human lives, can be deeply disturbing.

As a Christian Scientist I take refuge in this unassailable fact: God is our true Mother. Intimations of the motherhood of God are found in the Bible. In the book of Psalms, for example, the image of finding safety under the shadow of God's wings appears frequently.^{See, for example, Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4.} And in Isaiah, God is represented as saying, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."^{Isa. 66:13.} Many passages in the Bible convey a sense of the comforting, nurturing, mothering love of God.

The understanding that God is our Mother as well as our Father has brought healing to my own experience. When I was a girl of twelve or thirteen my mother developed a puzzling resentment toward me. This went on for many years and tormented me. I felt that if my own mother didn't like me, I could not be worth anything at all. Self-respect and peace of mind eluded me. Eventually I was married, and my husband and I became Christian Scientists.

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