Forget Not

"Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.'
Can a mother forget a baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget you, I will not forget you." [Isaiah 49:14-15].

Have you ever felt the presence of God? I have felt God's presence in a gorgeous sunset. Or in a butterfly flitting by, just when I was feeling a whim of sadness. I have smiled with joy at the sight of a teeny ladybug climbing up a flower stalk. St. Ignatius Loyola wept at the sight of the midnight sky,with its broad sweep of billions of stars. He knew that God was with him at that moment.

God is our Creator, a Being of infinite peace and strength, who can come to us in the form of a cloud, in the form of  the vastness of the oceans, or in the human form of Jesus.

Of course, God is male, right? He is our Father, our Provider. In times when we seek wisdom, we pray, "Father, teach  me your ways.

If God can take all these forms, why can't He be a woman? This Scripture from Isaiah says that He CAN be our Mother as well.

Somehow, I always saw God as both my Father and my Mother. In a childhood where I felt timid and sometimes full of doubt, God was able to both teach me and comfort me!

Even if one's mother is physically absent, weighed down with illness, emotionally distant or neglectful, even if she prefers to forget all about us, even if we have no one else in the world to care for us, God is capable of holding us in Her warm embrace as a loving Mother would.

I have lived by those words, "I will never forget you!"

I have also repeated to myself the Scripture where Jesus says, " I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." [John 14:18].

God, in those moments when I feel so alone and helpless, I pray that You take me in your arms, and hold me tight in your loving embrace!

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2011. All Rights Reserved.