Love Like a Mother: How the Sacred Work of Motherhood Reveals the Maternal Heart of God

Understanding the “maternal face of God” can help mothers find new value in parenthood, according to this compassionate debut from the writer of Back of the Flock, a newsletter for Christian moms. Unpacking motherhood’s spiritual resonances, Berget explores how “reorienting our lives around our growing babies” during pregnancy “echo[es] the crescendo of Christ’s sacrifice”; how the intensity, joy, and exhaustion of childbirth recalls God’s “birthing of creation”; and how a mother’s singular ability to breastfeed their baby mirrors how “God... knows our exact needs and bends toward us, knowing that he alone can offer what we long for.” She also touches on such difficult topics as infertility and pregnancy loss, noting that amid the “fog of loss and longing” moms can find solace in the fact that “God is tied to us just as we are to our children—the ones in our arms and ones who are not.” Weaving into the account her own alternately funny and touching motherhood anecdotes, Berget makes a strong case for eschewing reductive framings of God as a “dominant, masculine deity” for a more holistic notion that centers love, protection, and creation. This will be a balm for new and experienced moms alike. (May)