People often ask me what my real name is. They want to think it’s a nickname, or short for something like Maxwell or Maximillian. Can you imagine me being named Maxwell? That’s far too predictable, far too strong. Maximillian? That’s far too grandiose for me.
But I’m Maxie and I couldn’t imagine myself with any other name. That’s who I am.
Names are important. We talk about God and every term we use is limited–no image is complete. All of them apply — but none of them can be taken singly. Yet, as we come to Mother’s Day (May 14) I want to ponder God Is Like a Mother. Here is one of the Bible images that gives us a picture of that is Deuteronomy 32:10-11
In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch the and carries them aloft. (Deuteronomy 32:10-11)
This comes from the song Moses sang for Israel when he was an old man. The Exodus was nearing an end and Moses looks back over that unforgettable journey with God which had begun with a flaming bush. He used a vivid image of how God had dealt with them. Perhaps he had seen a great mother eagle hovering around her nest, trying to tempt her fledgling to take off for the first time, but the little fellows, not knowing yet what eagle wings were for, refused to leave the comfortable nest. Then the mother bird rose in the air, swooped down and struck the nest and sent the young birds hurdling out into space. The little eagles were forced to fly.
But the mother eagle didn’t leave them alone. Knowing they would lose their strength; the mother eagle flew with them. When their strength gave out, the mother swept swiftly beneath, and took her offspring on her outstretched wings, where for a short while he rested and regained his strength. God’s way with Israel had been like that — like a mother eagle disciplining and training her young, yet always supporting.
Why is it that when we think out loud, or talk about discipline in the family, we usually make the father the focus of discipline? It wasn’t that way in my family.
Isn’t it true for most of us that the hands that rocked our cradle also whacked our bottoms, or exercised that influence in our lives that made us however civil and mannered and courteous and kind and caring we are?
The image here is of the eagle forcing his young from the nest is the image of a mother who cares enough for her young that she dislodges them from their secure nest in order that they may do what they were born to do — to soar on eagle’s wings. But what a precious picture. When the young one is weary and can fly no longer, the mother swoops beneath him and on her own wings bears him up.
During this Mother’s Day Season, let’s remember our mothers and be grateful for the positive role they played in our lives. Also, let’s reflect on this image of God as an Eagle who continues to discipline yet care for us, her young.