Father, Son and . . . Mother?

Some cultures today are dealing with the definition of "family." What is a family? Who are the necessary players? In asking these questions, we have begun to add so much to the definition, it is almost unnecessary to have one at all- we have come to believe a family is whatever we want it to be at any given time.

Is it?

I believe God has presented himself as a family. We know The Father. We know The Son. But have you ever thought of The Holy Spirit as "The Mother?"

What is the role of the Holy Spirit? The comforter; one who comes alongside. Sound exactly like a mother's role to me! Now don't go and get all bent out of shape on me- some people get real upset when we talk about God as anything but male. But hey- I'm just following God's lead. Look:

Isaiah 66:13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you;
Matthew 23:37 how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings . . .

And besides, God isn't male or female! He's God and that implies something much bigger than we can ever fully understand. He just gives us these examples as ways to understand certain of his aspects. Of course he's our heavenly father, but he's also: the bread of life, a lion, a lamb, a gate . . . and our heavenly mother.

God created human beings in his image and made us male and female (Genesis 1:27) so we could better understand who he is. I think God has established what a family is: a father, a mother and offspring. He's modeled it in his very being and built it deep into our DNA.

Do you know him any better because of it?