Refuge - The Strength of Softness

There are some things that don’t seem to lose their magic, no matter what age we are. A few weeks ago I saw a swan gently floating down the river with five or six cygnets trailing behind her, and I just stopped to admire her. There’s something truly magical about watching swans and their cygnets that doesn’t seem to lose its wonder. It’s hard to pass them by without a second look. When you see these babies with their mother, nature demands you stop what you’re doing and take a moment to admire both the sweetness and innocence of the little ones, and the grace and strength of the mother leading them on their way. 

With Mother’s Day approaching, seeing these swans has made me reflect a little on the sacredness of the maternal instinct, and what it is within me that can’t help but stop and admire that mother swan leading her cygnets down the river. Perhaps it’s because this maternal display asks for reverence. The gentle strength, the careful guidance, the fierce protection and care for another, is a fragrant display of the heart of God. 

As a woman, I believe we have nestled within our hearts a maternal instinct that is a beautiful, powerful, yet an often undervalued part of our identity. This does not mean we all need to be biological mothers to our own children, or even want to have our own children to wield this power. It’s simply a fierce desire to care and offer protection, particularly to the vulnerable. This can manifest in a thousand different ways, in the workplace, in places of power, in the home, somewhere in between. My belief is that this maternal, caring and protective part of our hearts is sacred, and can shift the atmosphere.

We often think of God as Father, which is perfectly right, but we know that we are all made in His image, so the feminine and maternal have equal potency within His character. In a way, that helps me see perhaps a more overlooked aspect of who God is to us, and helps me recognise and nurture that beautiful and sacred part of my own identity. 

Psalm 91:1-6

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you

    from the fowler’s snare

    and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,

    nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

    nor the plague that destroys at midday.

There is so much we can be afraid of these days, so many terrifying and dark situations happening both in our own lives, in our wider communities and across the world. In this ever connected age we are helplessly exposed to this reality, we are vulnerable to feeling blown around and emotionally battered by the events around us. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find myself feeling like I just want to hide somewhere safe and warm, and wait for the storm to pass.

In a way, this vulnerability can make us feel a bit like a child again, simply not equipped to cope with, or deal with these things that are far too big for us to handle on our own. It takes us back to our younger selves who, when facing something scary, desperately needed the safety of a soft and warm embrace to steady our nervous system and bring us back to a place of calm, to reassure us that everything will be OK.

The image of being wrapped in feathers, soft and warm, brings to mind again the strength and power of that maternal instinct, and God offers us just that. 

He offers softness as a source of strength, warmth as impenetrable as a shield, He offers us this image of a being covered with feathers and sheltering under His wings as a display of how He protects us from the fearful things around us. It brings me back to the wonder of a mother swan and the protection of her young under her wings, in the shadow of her feathers. You know that when the storms reach them, she doesn’t let her young stay alone to fend for themselves, she offers them shelter, she brings them close, and takes the full brunt of the chaos around her. What a picture of what we’re also offered.

So this Mother’s Day, let us celebrate the mothers in our lives, the biological mothers, yes, but to anyone who displays this precious maternal strength that makes the world a softer and warmer place.

It’s holy and it’s sacred, and it points us directly to the heart of God.