The Unexpected Parallel with God's Love

When a friend has a baby, Jen Scheuermann reflects on the ways motherhood has helped her experience God's personal love for her. 

The Unexpected Fruit of Motherhood 

I remember exactly where I sat when I first glimpsed the parallel between my love for my children and God’s love for me. I had recently taken ownership of my faith and was participating in my first Bible study. I recall reading about God’s sacrificial and protective love for me, a fierce love that was not based on what I could or couldn’t do or how well I performed. It was unending and unconditional, and I was surprised at how easily I could picture this type of love.

Slowly connecting the dots, I realized it was because these words described my own love for my children, and I was overcome with joy and awe as I considered, for the first time, God’s very personal love of me.   

Years later, I still pause sometimes and reflect on different periods of my motherhood and how they demonstrate a specific aspect of God’s love. On a recent silent Ignatian retreat, for example, I was overwhelmed as I considered that God loved me first … and then chose to create me! Could that really be true?!

But as I reflected on the painful 18-month period of infertility my husband and I endured before becoming pregnant with our first son, I considered, for the first time, that perhaps the reason my heart ached as it did all those months was because I was filled with love for someone who didn’t yet exist — my heart was filled with love that had no place to go.

Recently this same son left for college, and I now wonder whether my sadness at not hearing his voice daily mimics God’s sadness when I skip my morning prayer time. Alternatively, does my joy each time he texts, calls, or walks into the house, reflect God’s heart for me when I stop in the Adoration chapel for an unscheduled visit on my way home from work?

Truly, nothing has helped to make God’s love for me real the way being a mother has. It has been an unexpected fruit of my motherhood journey — though the truth is, it took years for me to see it.   

Sharing the Fruit 

I picked up my vibrating phone and smiled, quickly opening the incoming text. A friend just had her first baby, and I was anxiously awaiting photos! Looking at the pictures of her precious baby brought a smile to my face. But looking at a picture of my friend as she stared at her newborn baby brought a smile to my heart.

Her face revealed the intense love she felt for her little one, and it was clear to me she was tasting the very love God has for her — though I suspected she was unaware. Hoping to help my friend experience her own beloved daughterhood, I picked up my phone and responded with a text of my own: 

I pray
each day  
that you are intentional 
about ignoring the little whisper 
telling you all you should do, 
and instead, choose to be:  

Be a mother, falling in love with her daughter.
Be a wife, watching her husband become a father.
Be a daughter, getting to know herself anew.  

And as the days 
become weeks,
become months,
become years,
and as your love for your little one 
grows in ways you couldn’t have imagined:
Fiercely protective.
Unconditional and unending.
Somehow stronger with each breath,
though your daughter is doing nothing,
producing nothing,
and performing not at all, 
I pray you come to know
in a real and true way,
God’s love …
Because your love for your little one
is a pale reflection of His love for you.  

Pause and look at your daughter. 
Let your heart feel all the feels …
And know this is how your Father looks at you.   

May your motherhood journey
bless you in ways you never imagined. 
And may your eyes and heart be open 
to see and receive it all.  

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Copyright 2025 Jennifer Scheuermann
Images: Canva