Where we are FOUR days away from Love like a Mother being officially out in the world! I truly cannot believe we’re here, and I truly cannot tell you how much this whole thing actually feels like a birth - a simile I tread lightly around. I’m excited and nervous and unsure of what to expect; the pressure is not unlike crowning, and I am just so excited for you to hold this book baby in your arms.
Like my own kids, who exist at the dead center of all my hopes and dreams (most of which revolve around their consistent deodorant usage at this point), I have so many hopes and dreams for this book. I thought I’d share them with you today.
I hope the corners of this cover get crumpled from being stuffed in your diaper bag, jammed in alongside the back-up pants you think still fit your toddler. I hope the crumbs from a forgotten graham cracker find their way into the binding.
I hope the pages curve as they travel in your bag, riding shotgun on your way to and from the school pick-up line and basketball practice, tucked in tight next to your planner and purse Advil.
I hope chubby, sticky fingers pick it up an ask you about the mama bear and her baby on the cover, and you get to answer, “God loves you just like that.”
I hope this book is a delightful surprise in your mailbox, sent to you from a friend who included a note that feels like a hug: I wish I could be there with you in person right now.
I hope this book makes you laugh. And I hope it makes you cry.
I hope one day, when you’re standing in the hallway at church, trying to wrangle your two-year-old into her coat while the baby squirms in your arms, someone tucks a copy into your hands before taking over the coat battle and giving you a quick squeeze.
I hope on the day you finally tell someone you trust that you’re not sure what you believe about God anymore, they pull up the book on their phone and say, You should try this one.
I hope you unwrap a box at your baby shower, cut through the tape, open the flaps, and the title washes over you as you wonder at all that is to come. I hope, months later, when you’re tired and leaking from every orifice, that the words find you and help you remember that you are seen and deeply loved.
I hope after the doctor calls and gives you the bad news, after the transfer fails or the test comes back negative, someone brings you a meal and tucks this book next to a tub of ice cream in a tote bag.
I hope your grown child brings you a copy along with a bouquet of tulips for Mother’s Day, and that in its pages you find memories wrapped in nostalgia and are reminded of your worth.
I hope pelicans make you cry from here on out.
I hope its words will be underlined and highlighted, its pages dog-eared. I hope you send pictures of paragraphs to a friend: This made me think of you!
I hope, at some point, you lose it under the pile on your kitchen counter for a day or two.
I hope these words find you in the middle of the night, when you’re up again and feeling like the only one awake in the whole world.
I hope it makes you see God differently. I hope it makes you see yourself differently.
I hope you never look at the Eucharist the same way.
I hope that in a season of loneliness, this book feels like company. I hope that when you feel unseen and overlooked, this book reminds you of God’s kind eyes on you. I hope that when the tears fall, this book will be a comfort.
I hope, at the end of it, you know how deeply beloved you are.
Love like a Mother: How the Sacred Work of Motherhood Reveals the Maternal Heart of God will be birthed into the world on May 5 with Brazos Press . And, if you are scrambling for a Mother’s Day gift idea, it arrives just in time for you to wrap it up and give it to the woman who washed your dirty underwear all those years.
It would mean so much to me if you would consider supporting the book by pre-ordering a copy. Pre-orders help get the word out about new books more than almost anything else. It’s algorithmically hard to explain, but it is a well-known truth in the publishing world. If you haven’t already, you can pre-order from anywhere books are sold. And if you already have, six bonus points for you! Would you consider sharing this post with a friend you think might like the book?
ps. As of this writing, the audiobook on Amazon was only $12!
Before the book releases, Baker Book House is selling the book for 40% off and free shipping. Please jump on this deal. Plus, the first 300 orders from Baker get stationery cards with the cover art with their order!
There are ebook and audiobook formats available if that’s more your style. I got to record the audio and struggled through saying the word “similarly” aloud multiple times JUST FOR YOU.
I created a bunch of fun digital bonuses for anyone that orders before May 5, from any retailer — a book of poems and prayers perfect for bringing the book’s themes into your day, a Spotify playlist, a discussion guide, downloadable art prints and more. Head here to access your bonuses!
When I share my hopes and dreams for this book, I mean every word. I have prayed every day that I worked on it, and every day since, that this book would find its way into the hands of people who need it, that God would direct this book’s path. (Though I will gently elbow you in the side and remind you that Mother’s Day is only 9 days away.)
From Publisher’s Weekly: “Understanding the “maternal face of God” can help mothers find new value in parenthood, according to this compassionate debut from the writer of Back of the Flock, a newsletter for Christian moms. Unpacking motherhood’s spiritual resonances, Berget explores how “reorienting our lives around our growing babies” during pregnancy “echo[es] the crescendo of Christ’s sacrifice”; how the intensity, joy, and exhaustion of childbirth recalls God’s “birthing of creation”; and how a mother’s singular ability to breastfeed their baby mirrors how “God... knows our exact needs and bends toward us, knowing that he alone can offer what we long for.” She also touches on such difficult topics as infertility and pregnancy loss, noting that amid the “fog of loss and longing” moms can find solace in the fact that “God is tied to us just as we are to our children—the ones in our arms and ones who are not.” Weaving into the account her own alternately funny and touching motherhood anecdotes, Berget makes a strong case for eschewing reductive framings of God as a “dominant, masculine deity” for a more holistic notion that centers love, protection, and creation. This will be a balm for new and experienced moms alike.”
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