{"id":476,"date":"2012-05-13T05:03:29","date_gmt":"2012-05-13T05:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/leavingsalem\/?p=476"},"modified":"2012-05-02T00:50:22","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T00:50:22","slug":"love-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/leavingsalem\/2012\/05\/love-mom.html","title":{"rendered":"Love, Mom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I was smacked away from the dinner table on one occasion. Calm down, I was never abused, not even close. But my parents did believe in the effectiveness of that proverb, \u201cSpare the rod, spoil the child.\u201d Thus, I was definitely not spoiled.<\/p>\n

Even if corporal punishment had not been practiced in my childhood home, I still would not have been over-indulged. Our family was quite poor. My father often worked two jobs in the textile mills to pay the bills and keep the roof over our heads, and my mother cared for my youngest sibling who was very ill. There was always more month than money, and my wardrobe of patched blue jeans and worn-out tennis shoes proved as much \u2013 and sometimes, so did our diet.<\/p>\n

On what felt like the umpteenth night in a row that my mother served us the culinary delights of macaroni and cheese and fish sticks, I just could not eat another serving of the Gorton\u2019s Fisherman. So, not knowing the economic pressures of feeding a family on a meager income, I voiced my complaint: \u201cFish sticks, again! Is that all we have?\u201d<\/p>\n

You can guess the response. She said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you learn to be thankful! There are children all over the world who would love to have a fish stick to eat.\u201d You can also guess my unwise answer: \u201cWell,\u201d I said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you send those children my fish sticks, because I can\u2019t stand to eat another one.\u201d I discovered that a fish stick tastes pretty good with a fat lip.<\/p>\n

My mother shared a lot of other well-worn but accurate expressions with me as well (usually not as forcefully as the whole fish stick episode turned out). You heard these words of wisdom too: \u201cMoney doesn\u2019t grow on trees\u2026When you have your own house you can make your own rules\u2026Quit running with that or you will put your eye out\u2026If you can\u2019t say anything nice, don\u2019t say anything at all\u2026Don\u2019t put that in your mouth; you don\u2019t know where it has been\u2026Close the door \u2013 were you born in a barn…Always wear clean underwear\u2026If everyone jumped off a cliff would you do it too\u2026Your face is going to freeze like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all heard these things because children of all generations need words of wisdom and correction; because children of all generations like to run with scissors in their hands, object to their mother\u2019s cooking, and leave the door standing wide open. Words of correction (even those that are a bit unorthodox at the dinner table) are expressions of a mother\u2019s love, and all children need love.<\/p>\n

We Christians emphasize the Father-like love of God. And yes, he is our Father. But this emphasis on the paternal, can give us a blind spot so that we fail to see and emphasize the deep mother-quality to God\u2019s love for us. God is also Mother, with a love that is warm, deeply affectionate, and unconditional. In many ways, a mother\u2019s guiding, nurturing, compassionate love is best reflective of whom God is.<\/p>\n

I like how John Killinger, in his book Lost in Wonder<\/em>, puts it. He writes, \u201cI believe in the love of all mothers, and its importance in the lives of their children. It is stronger than steel, softer than down, and more resilient than a green sapling on the hillside. It closes wounds, melts disappointments, and enables the weakest child to stand tall and straight in the fields of adversity. I believe that this love, even at its best, is only a shadow of the love of God, a dark reflection of all that we can expect of him, both in this life and the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, not everyone has experienced this kind of love from their parents, and are thus quite suspicious of a God who offers to love us without manipulation, abuse or ill-treatment. Still, as the Psalmist said, \u201cEven if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close\u201d (Psalm 27:10). And hold use he\/she will, because we all need love.<\/p>\n

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author of multiple books. You can read more and receive regular e-columns in your inbox at www.ronniemcbrayer.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was smacked away from the dinner table on one occasion. Calm down, I was never abused, not even close. But my parents did believe in the effectiveness of that proverb, \u201cSpare the rod, spoil the child.\u201d Thus, I was definitely not spoiled. 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