If God is your father, says pastor and author Andrew Wilson, then you have seven mothers.

“Besides our birth mothers, there are at least six individuals or entities the Bible describes as a ‘mother’ to God’s people: Eve, the earth, the church, pastors, Christ, and God himself,” explains Wilson. “Each example has theological implications.”

After all, Eve gives life to humanity.
The earth labors to bring forth the new world when the curse of sin is lifted.
Jesus longs to gather his children “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Luke 13:34).

In recognizing our many mothers, we’re reminded of a profound truth: the maternal is not limited to the biological. The characteristics God infused into motherhood can extend far beyond the children we hold in our wombs or raise in our homes because those traits come from God himself.

“No image better expresses God’s compassion for his people than a nursing mother, cradling her newborn and promising lifelong devotion,” writes Wilson.

As image-bearers, in Christ, then we are empowered both to mother—and be mothered by—others with the very compassion and devotion of God.