Nourishing Life: Mothering as Feeding and Sustaining

I have good news for those of you who really don’t vibe with all this earth mama imagery. The point of the mothering metaphor is not for us to go all Moon Goddess, track our cycles to maximize our inner seasons, and homemake everything from soap to lightbulbs (although if that’s you, I LOVE all your hippie energy, and we want you in this conversation too!).

Christianity is often critiqued for offering a very narrow definition of womanhood. Some think that we preach a womanhood that must remain silent, birth babies, keep only to the home, and never question the views or direction of a man. And yet a careful look at the Biblical worldview shows an incredibly inclusive picture. In fact, I would even suggest that scripture is actually less restrictive than the world’s definition of femininity because it’s not based on externals like clothing or career paths or going to the bathroom in groups.

Biblical womanhood is centered on the character of God. Man and woman are created in the image of God, so together showcase a complete vision of Him. This means that women explicitly show the nature of God in ways that are both the same as our male counterparts, but also distinct.

The point of the mothering metaphor is not to elevate birthing as the highest form of womandom, but instead to call us back to the ways in which we are made in the image of God. This God we so often call Father is also one who figures Godself in mothering language—a hen with her chicks, a laboring woman, a midwife, nursing mother, and more.

The first aspect of the mothering Imago Dei that I want to explore in this series is nourishing life. The God of the Bible is one who feeds and sustains. And as the female body is uniquely equipped to literally feed another human, the ways in which we physically or metaphorically nourish others showcase God to a watching world. 

In Isaiah 49:15, God speaks to his people: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

In comparing Himself to a nursing mother, God is drawing our attention to aspects of His nature that are reflected here on earth in the feminine sphere. Most prominently, He says that as the One who nourished us from the very beginning, He will continue to sustain us. 

Think about how many times in scripture we see God nourishing his people—Manna from heaven, a promised land flowing with milk and honey, the repeated banqueting table imagery, and ultimately Jesus—the Bread of Life. Can you think of others?

So too, women reflect God’s image in all the ways that we nourish those around us. This is why actual mothers are so important to the church family. Despite a culture that regularly devalues the work of mothering, we learn how to mother from good mothers in our midst so that we might follow their lead. God is our aim and mothers give us some of the practical how-to guide. 

A mother teaches us about nourishment from the very first moments a babe is laid on her sustaining breast. Of course, men can also participate in nourishing (they cook dinner too!),  but nourishment is first a biologically female task. And so we all, in our various giftings and practical lives, follow the lead of women’s bodies when we participate in nourishing. While there is certainly overlap between the application of manhood and womanhood in the lives of any given man or woman—something we might just call our universal “humanness”—women have a unique capacity, woven into the fabric of our bodies, to nourish.

And so, we emulate mothers, both in our own parenting, if we have children, and also in the ways we engage with everyone outside of our household. Biological motherhood is a jumping off point for the metaphor—as women, our unique nourishing capacity plays out in other spheres. We might literally prepare meals, or we might nourish the souls of onlookers with deep and meaningful art. We might nourish minds of the intellectually hungry or sustain hope for the spiritually struggling. In whatever our productive tasks, the mothering metaphor is an opportunity to ask, “God, who have you called me to nourish today?” or “How can I perform my work in a way that nourishes others?”

Women’s bodies point us to the deeper spiritual task.

Nursing mothers experience a sensation in their breasts called “let down” when the milk is ready to flow. This can happen when you hear the cry of your baby, when it’s been a few hours since the last time you fed her, or even sometimes when you are just thinking about him. Many women describe let down as a visceral experience. I remember it as a deep yearning, centered in my bosom, so close to my heart that it felt as if nourishing my child was the only way to prevent cardiac arrest.

Today, I am pondering how that longing reflects God’s longing for us as children. His eagerness to nurse, to feed, to sustain, if only we would come running to His nourishing presence.

Continue the Growing Life Series

Part 1: All of Us | Part 3: Housing | Part 4: Nurturing | Part 5: Delivering