Let's hear it for the boys!

We took a spontaneous trip to the beach yesterday. Sandy Hook is only about an hour drive from our place and since the season hasn't officially started yet it's free and almost completely empty. It was a belated Mother's Day present since my husband had to work over the weekend.

While basking in the sun on my blanket in the sand, I thought about what I might write about today. Perhaps a metaphore about finding treasures that have washed up on shore (we found a broken stop watch, a golf ball, baseball, and a plastic lion toy). Or something about how the waves smooth out all the rough edges to make beautiful polished stones.

But as I lay there watching my son run up and down the sand dunes and my husband walk with the baby along the shore, I felt that I just wanted to soak it all up and be grateful.

Having two little boys is a lot of work, and growing up in a family with just two girls, I feel I have a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to this whole boy thing. My husband and three year old spent the first half hour collecting drift wood to build into a "beach house" to block the wind. This is something I would have never thought of myself, since the first thing I usually do at the beach is walk along the shore line and look for sea shells, or the ever practical mom, make sure everyone has their sunscreen and hats. It just seemed so wonderfully "boy", and I felt like Wendy in Peter Pan, when the lost boys built her a house.

Whenever I am out with my boys there is always someone who comments, "so are you hoping for a girl next?"

This question always rubs me the wrong way a little. I know people mean well, but my mama bear reflexes immediately rise up. What's wrong with boys? Why does everyone think I MUST want a girl?

Girls do get all the cute clothes, and I have a great relationship with my own mother. I'm sure if God ever blessed us with a daughter It would be absolutely wonderful, and I welcome the adventure.

For now though, it's kind of nice to be the only Queen in the castle.

A big thanks to my husband who orchestrated this trip and who is responsible for all of the beautiful pictures! Love you!

Ladies, if you want awesome home movies and pictures, marry an NYU CADA graduate!

That last one was me behind the lens, not bad eh? I had a good teacher...

Mother God

"God is the harmonious union of masculinity and femininity." -Divine Principle, Chapter 1, Section 1

The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato, wrote that human beings were originally created with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces. They were both male and female. Zues, fearing that humans were too powerful, split them in two. Incomplete, humans were from then on destined to roam the earth in search of their other half that would make them whole. This is where the term "soul-mates" originates.

When I think about the Dual Characteristics of God as explained in the DP, I sometimes picture this primordial creature with two faces lumbering around up in heaven. It's hard to get your head around, so to speak. Especially since all the language (even in the DP) refers to God as "he" or "our father".

As a woman, to know that my likeness is not merely a symbol of God, but an actual image, that there is complete divinity in my form. It makes me feel like, well...a Goddess.

In a Western society, it's hard to grasp the concept of a female God, and even harder to imagine a being that is both male and female. The more I experience and study, the more I think that perhaps our language of male and female is limiting in and of itself. These are things that no one really knows until we're on the other side. Perhaps not even then.

To talk about what it looks like doesn't really matter though. The more important part, is how we acknowledge the feminine side of God here and now.

These are some of the ways that I think I have experienced God The Mother:

In Nature

It's called "Mother" Earth after all. The beauty of the spring flowers; the expanse of the Grand Canyon; The warmth of the sun and the softness of the grass; The way the ground can produce food to nurture and feed all the animals of creation.

In Female Relationships

We feel the love of Mother God through our own mothers, grandmothers, friends, even strangers. Isn't it funny how you can feel instantly connected to someone who is a complete stranger as long as you can identify with their situation? I love meeting other moms at the park or the grocery store. They give me a knowing look when my kids start acting up, or I'm having a hard time folding up the stroller. They've been there. Or how you root for the heroin in any movie or drama who is fighting against injustice. A lone female voice in a man's world. You know her because she is you too.


Childbirth

No explanation necessary for the mothers...and for everyone else, no explanation will do it justice.

Music

Like when your mother would sing you a lullaby. Music stirs up the soul. It is an outward expression of things that cannot simply be expressed in words. Love, heartache, longing, ambition, serenity, all in a tangible form.


What are some ways that you experience or express Mother God?