The Mother-heart of God

A lot has happened since our last blog, not least the birth of our fourth grandchild, a girl, at the end of August. I was going to write ‘a ‘little girl’ but of course all babies are little, although Noa was smaller than most – six weeks premature, she weighed in at 3lbs. However, other attendant problems mean she is still in neo-natal intensive care eight weeks later.

She is the cutest of babies with a shock of auburn hair, delicately streaked with blonde and darker patches. She is blessed with two devoted parents who are totally besotted by her and a wider family of supporters and friends who are praying for her and cheering her on.

However it is the parents and particularly her mother, our daughter, who is the focus of this blog rather that Noa.

Through all the problems associated with the pregnancy her parents have chosen to speak life over their daughter, enduring a succession of emotional highs and lows as successive ante-natal appointments raised concerns only for these to be ruled out or modified in subsequent visits. They were determined that her future should not be dictated to out of fear, but out of faith – a faith born from the perspective that Noa was destined to be born with a God-ordained purpose over her life.

Since her birth I have watched our daughter seated day by day beside Noa’s cot and have observed an outpouring of love for her daughter that is both humbling and inspirational. It is a love which sees beyond the tubes and the medical machinery to the person beyond. It is a love which believes for the future, which looks for the positive in every scenario and which accepts her daughter for who she without comparison with others. It is a fierce, uncompromising love. It is a beautiful love.

And then I read in the Bible 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-7, which describes God’s love in the following terms:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

(New International Version)

And in so doing I realise I have touched, for a time, the mother- heart of God.