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The Daily Devotional
Monday, May 11, 2026
God’s Love with Skin On
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” — Isaiah 66:13
Reflection
The Monday after Mother’s Day can arrive with many different feelings. For some, yesterday may have been filled with flowers, phone calls, shared meals, laughter, and gratitude. For others, it may have stirred quiet grief, old wounds, tender memories, or longings that are difficult to put into words. Mother’s Day can be beautiful, but it can also be complicated. That is why Isaiah 66:13 speaks with such gentle strength. It does not ask us to pretend. It invites us to receive comfort from the God who knows every story fully.
In the closing chapter of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of restoration, hope, and the compassion of God toward His people. Jerusalem, once associated with sorrow, judgment, exile, and longing, becomes a place of promised comfort. Into that promise, God chooses a deeply tender image: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” The verse does not say that God is distant, detached, or merely watching from far away. It reveals a God whose love bends low, draws near, and comforts with tenderness.
This maternal image is not sentimental. It is strong. Anyone who has watched a mother comfort a child knows that such love is often both gentle and fierce. A mother may speak softly, but her presence can steady a frightened heart. Her arms may be tired, but they still reach. Her prayers may be whispered in the dark, but they are carried by faith. Her care may go unnoticed by the world, but it often becomes one of the clearest reflections of God’s compassion.
There is an old story about a young boy who woke in terror during a violent thunderstorm. Lightning flashed across the windows. Thunder shook the house. Frightened and crying, he called out from his bedroom. His mother hurried in, sat beside him, wrapped him in her arms, and whispered, “It’s okay, sweetheart. God is with you.” The boy, still trembling, looked up and said, “I know, but I need someone with skin on right now.”
There is wisdom in that child’s words. He was not denying God’s presence. He was reaching for the comfort of that presence made visible, touchable, and near. His mother’s embrace became, in that moment, a living sign of divine love. She was not replacing God. She was reflecting Him.
Often, this is how God’s comfort reaches us. It comes through someone who sits with us when we are afraid. It comes through a grandmother who remembers our favorite meal. It comes through an adoptive or foster mother who chooses love again and again. It comes through a spiritual mother in the faith who prays for us, teaches us, encourages us, and reminds us who we are in Christ. It comes through the person who calls at the right time, writes the needed note, brings food without being asked, or simply stays when words are not enough.
Motherly care, at its best, points beyond itself. It is not perfect, because no human love is perfect. Mothers grow weary. Families carry scars. Some people have not known the kind of maternal tenderness they needed. Others miss the mother they can no longer call. Some mothers grieve children. Some carry the ache of strained relationships. Some have longed for motherhood and have walked through disappointment in silence. Isaiah’s promise is large enough to hold all of that.
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” God does not only comfort those whose lives fit neatly into celebration. He comforts the grieving, the wounded, the overlooked, and the weary. He comforts those who gave love and were not thanked. He comforts those who needed love and did not receive it as they should have. He comforts those who sat through Mother’s Day smiling on the outside while carrying sorrow within.
And He also calls us to become instruments of that comfort. The day after Mother’s Day is a good time to let gratitude become action. Perhaps there is someone you need to thank: a mother, grandmother, aunt, foster parent, adoptive parent, mentor, teacher, neighbor, or spiritual mother whose love helped steady your life. A phone call, a handwritten note, or a simple message may become a blessing. Perhaps there is someone who found yesterday difficult. A gentle word, a quiet prayer, or an invitation to coffee may be a way of offering God’s love “with skin on.”
The comfort of God is not abstract. It takes shape in compassion. It becomes visible in presence. It speaks through kindness. It holds steady when life trembles. And when we honor the nurturing love we have received, we are also honoring the God from whom all true comfort flows.
Today, we give thanks for mothers and for all who have mothered others in love. We remember that every faithful act of nurture, every prayer whispered in the night, every embrace offered in fear, and every word of encouragement spoken in love can become a small window into the heart of God. His comfort is tender enough to hold us, strong enough to sustain us, and near enough to meet us where we are.
Prayer
Loving and compassionate God, we thank You for the gift of motherly love and for all who have reflected Your tenderness through care, patience, prayer, and faithful presence. Bless mothers, grandmothers, adoptive mothers, foster mothers, and spiritual mothers, and strengthen all who nurture others in love. Comfort those for whom Mother’s Day carries grief, loss, longing, or pain, and surround them with Your mercy. Teach us to receive Your comfort and to share it with others through gentle words, quiet presence, faithful prayer, and acts of compassion. Make us vessels of Your love, so that those who are afraid, lonely, weary, or wounded may know that You are near. Amen.
Devotional by: Kenny Sallee, ThM — Deming, NM, USA
The Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, copyright © 1989, 1993, the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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