One thing we talk about at The River at PIHOP is our relationships with our mothers.
Man desires unfailing love, according to Provebrs 19:22. The capacity to receive the undying, unswerving love of God is instilled in us by our mothers. If there is something that impedes a child’s connection to his or her mother in the first few months of life, we will have a very difficult time receiving affection. We may experience a continual need to be touched or affirmed or to feel an emotional or spiritual high. There will be a constant backdrop of desperation to our life and we’ll often feel panicked because whatever emotional and spiritual sustenance we get will never feel like enough. We may be unable to hold on to God’s “mothering” as described in Isaiah 66:12-13. Without it we will feel ungrounded, rootless, and constantly hungering for stimulation to fill the void. Addictions and compulsions often find their roots in disharmony between mother and child.
Our first experience of our mother is in utero. During this time she is literally everything to us—we don’t know anything outside of her and we don’t need anything outside of her. She is our shelter, she is our source of nourishment and connection. The act of being born can be very traumatic for the child (as well as the mother!) We are breathing for the first time, we’re seeing for the first time, we’re cold for the first time, we’re more alone than we’ve ever been. The mother is there to extend the shelter and comfort we first found in her womb into this larger world we are now a part of.
Our mother’s love becomes our paradigm for the “secret place” of God, of finding shelter in His love. During the first months of our life she is not only our first model of the love of God physically and emotionally, but she instills in us the ability to “be” that is the foundation of our soul. We learn from her that we exist and that our existence is a good thing. She establishes within us the ability to receive and hold on to love, acceptance, and comfort. Because of her connection to us, we begin to form the internal solidity that allows us to be still, to be alone and to be with God. Our early relationship with our mother makes it possible for us to abide.
Psalm 131:2-3 says “I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child resting against my mother is my soul within me.” Notice, “a weaned child.” The process of weaning a child from a mother’s breast involves disappointment and pain for the child; but that distress is temporary. Once the child is weaned there is contentment, which is a product of trust in the mother. The child knows it will still be fed. The child has learned that the mother will still be there.
The weaned child illustrates contentment, satisfaction and peace, all products of trust. When we’ve experienced the security of our mother’s love, we’re also able to trust God completely and deeply – we have the contentment and peace of a weaned child.
Till next time,
Matt Muhonen
Matt and Kelly Muhonen lead The River at PIHOP. The River is an inner healing and discipleship ministry. Check out pihop.com for information how to get more involved at The River.
