God is imaged in many forms in the Bible — a rock, a wind, she-bears, even a little red hen (Matt. 23:37, Luke 13:34). The Bible describes God as a seamstress (Gen. 3:21); possessing a womb (Jer. 31:20, Isa. 46:3-4); as a woman in labor (Deut. 32:18, Isa. 42:14 John 3:3-7); as a nursing mother (Isa. 49:15, Num. 11:11-14); as a mother with her weaned child (Ps. 121:1-2); as a comforting mother (Isa. 66:11-12, Hos. 11:1-4,8-9); as a mother bear (Hos. 13:6-

; and as a midwife (Ps. 22:9), among many other feminine images. Read Paul R. Smith's Is It Okay To Call God Mother? Considering the Feminine Face of God (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993) for a thorough discussion of this issue by a Southern Baptist preacher.