This Mother’s Day, I ponder about the raw, powerful, fierce protective love that mothers have for their offspring—not just in humans, but in animals as well.
A mama bear that will fight, even kill, to protect her young. A whale that stayed with her dead calf for months, carrying it through the ocean. A mother spider will sometimes allow herself to be consumed by her young so they can survive their first stage of life.
It is something so raw, so fierce, so unexplainable. In nature, a mother will do whatever it takes to protect her young—even to the point of sacrificing herself. We call it mother’s instinct.
And it makes us wonder… where does this kind of love come from?
Could it be that the Creator has written this instinct into His creation? Something embedded deep within mothers.
Because if that’s true, then it suggests something even more incredible; that what we see reflected in mothers across nature is a reflection of its Creator.
So when we see a mother animal refusing to abandon her young, or enduring suffering for their survival, we are not just witnessing instinct. We are catching a glimpse of the Creator because creation bears His signature.
Which leads to this beautiful implication: the Creator Himself carries that same fierce, protective love, only in its purest and unbroken form.
But unlike creation, His love is not driven by survival, biology, or necessity. It is intentional. It is governed by holiness, not impulse.
And yet it is still fierce. Still protective.
Scripture sharpens the picture. At the Cross, God doesn’t stand at a distance. Instead, He steps in. He takes the cost of redemption upon Himself.
As Romans 5:8 reminds us:
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In other words, He is saying, “I die, so that My children don’t have to.”
As mothers, we recognize this love. The need to protect, to provide, to show up no matter how we feel. To keep going even when we’re beyond exhaustion.
But, this instinct didn’t originate from us. It was placed in us. Which means we were never meant to be the source of it but the vessel.
The same God who demonstrated that kind of sacrificial, fierce protective love at the Cross is also the One who sustains this love in us.
As 2 Corinthians 12:9 says,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
So the call is not to give until we’re depleted. It’s to remain connected to the Source of that love.
Cypress And Myrtle 