A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary called “3 Magic Words” – the imagery and videography weren’t too much for my liking, but I appreciated the message. Spoiler alert: the three magic words are “I am God”.

The documentary interviewed passers-by about “What if you were god?” Most interviewees simply rejected the idea. Which made me sad. Their point was a direct theme: I don’t want that responsibility.

But then this burly lumberjack of a guy busted out, “Well, I’m a firm believer that I AM God. God is in all of us.” Amen, burly lumberjack man, amen. The whole point of the sometimes awkward floating heads documentary was if we acknowledge we are God, that God is in all of us, it’s a total game changer. If I’m God, then I make better decisions, I have answers within, and I love beyond my wildest imagination. And the big game-changer is, if I’m God, then you are God. It’s about how we treat each other, and ourselves.

In the scripture this past week and on Mother’s Day, we find the concept of nurturing. I had a delightful Mother’s Day – I got exactly what I wanted – a necklace with a flying pig on it. I got bonus gifts and handmade cards. And I got a day with my kids and husband, just the four of us. Then the kids mowed the lawn for me.

Mother’s Day hopefully is a day to celebrate a mother’s nurturing by letting her family nurture her. Even if you tell them EXACTLY where to find the necklace – its still them nurturing mom. For sure.

Don’t tell anyone else – but I think I can only handle all that Mother’s Day spoiling once a year. Then I want to take the reins back and get back to a Mother’s protocol . Example, I like to mow. But I think the kids and Chris thought it might be bad form and they’d get bad neighborhood press if mom were out there mowing on Mother’s Day. So, I reluctantly allowed the kids to do it.

In our Lectio Divina, just as Rev. Chris Alexander predicted, I got hung up on the word “dominion.” I opted to ignore that part of the verse.

And then I remembered that documentary, and Mother’s Day – we don’t want dominion – we don’t want the responsibility or the power. Rev. Chris made a great point – dominate with nurture. That changes “I’m only human” to “I’m only God.” Changes things up a bit, doesn’t it?

Then she got all crazy and said something like: “It’s not because you’re human that you’re failing. It’s that you refuse to be human that you’re failing.” Let that one sink in a bit, I’ll wait.

Rev. Chris posed the question, “So how do we live in the image of God?”

Her response, I couldn’t agree with more, “We see the essence of God in all of us.”

That includes ourselves. We have to see the essence of God in the best and the worse of us.