What a wonderful time of year it is. This week, we recognize nurses, next week is hospital week, and Sunday is set aside as a time to celebrate mothers. It’s all about upholding an awareness of people who express their Nurturing Spirit! Because the Nurturing Spirit can be cultivated in anyone.
To every mom, or someone who does the work of a mother, such as a nurse or caregiver, I would share the words of Jill Churchill, “There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”
This nurturing, motherly love for those in our care is a powerful thing. A great scriptural example is found in Job’s wife.
You might think I’m a little weird to bring up such an example, much less the book of Job. Whether we study the scripture with a historic lens, in allegory, or even metaphysically we are forced to face the problem of suffering in the human experience in Job’s story. Basically, the Book of Job begs the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The problem of suffering to has no one size fits all answer, or if you ask some theologians, no “good” answer exists. It’s been likened to putting one’s hand in a blender by more than one Biblical examiner.
Job’s wife, often villainized by those who study this story, to my mind has much to teach us about the nature of the Nurturing Spirit. Job’s wife is typically seen as a bad person in this story, simply because she says something regrettable out of profound grief.
Job has it all, servants, wealth, land, livestock, children, he’s super faithful to God, and he’s described as a “blameless and upright man.”
Satan takes an interest in Job and has a chat with God about him. Satan argues that if God allowed Satan to harm what belongs to Job, then Job would curse God. God grants Satan power to touch Job’s possessions, if he doesn’t hurt Job directly.
Job loses everything. His servants, wealth, land, livestock, and tragically ALL of his children.
Job has three friends that offer him in lengthy speeches, what equates to a whole lot of cold comfort for Job. That all this must have befallen Job because he did something wrong, he should repent, that God has a plan for him, no one can understand the full nature of God.
To this day, with variations to the wording, these are the kinds of sentiments we share each other when something tragic occurs. They largely have the same effect of cold comfort. They might provide the speaker with comfort, but rarely does it give comfort to the one we are speaking to. God is unimpressed with Job’s three friends, telling them in Chapter 42:8 “you have not spoken of me what is right.”
Job’s wife? She did none of that. What she said to Job when she lost all her children, in grief and in pain was, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Was that a regrettable statement? Surely. And it was an authentic expression of unimaginable pain.
It’s likely she was in a terrible state of shock. A sudden and tremendous loss like that can temporarily cloud our judgment, simply because we love so completely, the brain cannot take the overwhelming loss.
We all express grief differently, from tears to laughter and everything in between. When I held my newborn son, I fell so very deeply in love. The Nurturing Spirit in me was stirred. If something unthinkable were to happen to him, I might say something regrettable as well.
An interesting fact is God stays silent when it comes to Job’s wife. I’m thinking if God was displeased with her, God would have said something, like he did with Job’s friends, correct? In her authentic expression of pain, even if expressed regrettably, we see the depth of love present in the Nurturing Spirit, which is a more desirable thing than the platitudes and bad theology offered by Job’s friends.
Expressing a Nurturing Spirit does not mean our lives will always be rainbows and unicorns, my friends. We will not do things perfectly because of our devotion to those we care for. However, what the Nurturing Spirit will always know is deep, powerful, abiding, and profound LOVE.
I thank you for reading. Be blessed this day.
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