Mother's Milk

Rachel Hunt Steenblik researched Heavenly Mother full-time for the BYU Studies article "A Mother There: A Survey of Historical Teachings About Mother in Heaven". Using that research, she turned much of what she discovered and learned into tender and thoughtful poetry. Mother's Milk is a collection of her poetry, inspiring and lovely. I first read it months ago when I bought her book as an ebook. I read it quickly. Devouring her words in the middle of a sleepless night. In the morning I read some of my favorites to Rand. They are poems filled with love--filled with the love for and of a Heavenly Mother. I recently bought myself a physical copy of the book. It needed to be on my shelf. Off my shelf. On my nightstand. In my hands. In my children's hands.

My husband and I read this book in its entirety last Sunday morning. Mother's Milk provided a deeply moving Sabbath meditation. Once we started, we didn't want to stop reading these unexpected and unique inquiries, tiny prayers, and observations about the kindness, grace, and glory of a Mother in Heaven. Rachel seems to have gathered her years of yearning into a book of deliverance -- not just for herself, but for others who share her faith in a divine female presence. The poems are sometimes simple, sometimes profound and always satisfying. Ashley Mae's illustrations are sublime. If you believe in heaven, this book offers comforting thoughts of that home. If you don't believe in heaven, it tells the compelling tale of God as a Woman. Whatever your beliefs, buy this book. I've purchased five additional copies (so far) for gifts.

I am not a big poetry reader, I confess. But on the recommendation of several friends, I bought Rachel Hunt Steenblik's slender book of poems about her, and our, relationship with the feminine divine - who Latter-day Saints call our Heavenly Mother. It is a gem. Rachel is not a florid, wordy poet. Her work is spare, with the feeling that every word is carefully chosen to convey feeling, and she does. Her metaphors and comparisons go straight to the heart, and leave the reader longing to know the Mother who helped create us. This is a short book - but if you give each poem the contemplation that it sparks, it may take you quite a while to read it. You may want to leave it on your bedside table, as an addition to your family devotional reading. Rachel's work leaves me with a deep sense of peace. I very much recommend that you take a look at this lovely little volume.

In “Mother’s Milk” Rachel Hunt Steenblik vividly captures the real moments of motherhood. This collection of tiny poems forms an important treatise of what it is like to be a mother and to be a daughter, and there are poems about a Heavenly Mother (a notion that was new to me, and that I really like). In reading this celebration of Her I am reminded of all that is holy in motherhood. I have two small children and when I think of motherhood in the abstract my initial thoughts are of being grumpy and handing out goldfish crackers. I’m tired and a little bitter, and these poems are a tonic. They remind me that motherhood is sacred, that I’m very blessed to be a part of it; and to celebrate and remember the many sweet little moments in each day. I feel happier and more peaceful after reading these poems. I cannot recommend them enough.

As a Mormon woman with some complicated feelings about Heavenly Mother, I was a little nervous to read this collection. I delayed for a little while. When I finally sat down with the book, I found Rachel's poetry so very gentle and warm. It was comforting to read. I think I read it all the way through in just a few sittings, pausing occasionally when a certain poem really struck me. And when I was all done, I felt the urge to write a few Heavenly Mother themed poems of my own. There are poems whose brilliance is intimidating and mind-boggling, and there are poems whose brilliance is inviting and approachable -- the kind of brilliance that makes you feel you have something worth saying, too. I'm grateful for this book that shares the latter form of brilliance so generously, and I'm grateful for the insights and pondering it inspired in me.

Beautiful imagery and in my opinion very reverent and so hopeful. Even though there are things only people familiar with Mormonism will get, I would recommend this for all believers in God as a Heavenly Parent, no matter the religion.

This is some of the most breathtaking poetry, and the most important theology, I have ever read. Individually, they are masterpieces, breathing with life and love and pain and truth. Collectively, they challenge our very notions of God, of motherhood, of Being and of belonging. The world has needed this book for much longer than we have known we needed it, and I can only pray (Lady, hear our prayer) that this is the beginning of a new conversation in which the Mother might begin to speak to us in a way we can finally hear. Thank you, thank you, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, for giving me back a glimpse of my Mother. I am astonished and grateful and profoundly moved.

Mormon women are strong; you don't walk a thousand miles across unfamiliar land into an arid valley you've never seen unless you've got the guts for it. Today's Mormon women evidence that same strength in coming together to demand acknowledgement of the feminine contribution to our existence. Rachel Hunt Steenblik's lovely and evocative book 'Mother's Milk' is a modern trek: a search for our Heavenly Mother, lost to theology but always present, waiting to comfort and consult. In this series of simple short poems She offers Her love and advice, Her songs, the comfort of Her arms, and in the end we are left feeling that accepting Her presence could go a long way toward curing the world's ills.

Schöne Texte, die zum Nachdenken anregen. Tief ergreifende Gedichte und Verse wechseln sich mit witzigen und nachdenklich stimmenden ab. Eindeutige Kaufempfehlung für alle, die sich auf die Suche nach der Himmlischen Mutter (und auch einer besseren Mutter in sich selbst) machen wollen.