The Fierce Love of the Mother
The twenty-third saying of the Living Christ:
Do not be a harsh judge, deeming every effort insufficient. When limits become condemnations, and the law is a sword of judgment, the power of God is lost. If a mother’s discipline turns to scorn, the vine is uprooted and left to wither in the noon-day sun.
If power blinds itself to its bounds of right relationship, it runs forward to its own destruction. Holy persistence does not trample the fence, but honors the soil. To break the boundary is to spill the life it was meant to hold. The one who pours out their cup of life without replenishing it weakens themselves by believing they are strong.
Do not lose the forming love of the Mother.
Imma, our heavenly Mother guides us, but never pushes us too far or for too long. She keeps her children from harm, calling them back to her loving arms. She does not tear them down, but preserves them to endure the journey of life.
Our Mother protects and guards us like a bird her nest. She builds her nest of straw and mud, so that the wind might not scatter her young. She does not strike the one who stumbles from exhaustion, but encourages them to a slower pace for the journey. Imma is present in the holy no, which corrects our steps as we walk the path. She teaches us to endure with wisdom, and persist in the right direction without closing the gate to the treasury of grace.
Imma is the voice that says stop, while continuing to believe in us.
When we learn to accept our mother’s correction, we are formed into the image of God, not rejected from the way of life. Strength is restored when we honor our limits, trusting that the ‘No’ of the Mother is a guide for us to protect life.
The soul is mended where the heat of effort meets the cool water of restraint. Only in this union of fire and water can we be made whole. The world is restored when communities honor the Sabbath of their labor, knowing the time to pause, the time to turn, and the time to stand fast. Enduring through it all, glowing like a steady lamp filled with oil, rather than a flame that vanishes in a brilliant flash.
The loving no is also a path forward.
Get your copy here —> Creation’s Paths: A Creation Spirituality Primer
