Harnessing Fierceness of Mother Love

"Silence is Surrender", reads the sign of a local protester

When we think of motherhood, our minds can drift to images of snuggling with infants, hosting kid’s birthday parties, and high school graduations. These are some important expressions of Mother Love. However, there is another side to this experience which is just as important. There is a fierceness to mothering that is Divine. This strength could only come from our souls. Mother Love, like Grace, comes from the Higher Power to ignite our spiritual selves.

The Hebrew Bible teaches us about the shadow and light of the Divine Mother, ruach, or Holy Spirit. In addition to milk and honey, we have imagery of forceful protectiveness. “I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and will tear open the covering of their heart... (Hosea 13:8).” This is metaphorical language to describe the burst of energy a person feels to protect the vulnerable from predators.

The Divine energy to care for those who cannot protect themselves is a critical component of Mother Love. This energy is universal! One does not have to be a mother, or even a woman, to experience Mother Love. Anyone who has a taste for justice will feel this energy when they witness harm being done to a child. Anyone who is incensed by stories of children being traumatized or assaulted knows the sternness of Mothering Spirit.

I look at our nation at this moment and wonder, “Where is fierce Mother Love?”

Where are justice and accountability for the cynical leaders who accept the mistreatment of vulnerable people as part of their political game?

Where is Mama Bear as children are being kidnapped from their parent’s cars and locked in detention centers? Where is the righteous, shielding energy of the Divine Mother for the women who were trafficked and exploited by Epstein and his friends when they were girls?

How many Americans have lost their spiritual passion to rise up against injustice? How far has the sickness of indifference and disconnection spread among us?

The flame of Mothering Love can be reclaimed. Each American with a moral center is entitled to feel angry on behalf of those being harmed by the administration and its power brokers.

To be in community means to protect all vulnerable people- like a Mother.

The people of Minnesota show us how: speak Truth, seek Justice, and Protect the vulnerable. Document everything. Protest. Vote. Take the call to Leadership. Collectively organize. Resist. Yes, we can and yes, we must protect those who have been harmed by political predators.  We must find ways to advocate for immigrant children now, and offer justice for victimized girls that are now women survivors.