Instinctively he jumped back, but he was too slow. With speed that belied her size, she crossed the distance between
them and engulfed him in her arms, lifting him clear off his feet and spinning around him around like a little child. And all the
while
she was
shouting his
name—“Mackenzie Allen
Phillips”—with the ardor of someone seeing a long-lost and deeply loved relative. She finally set him back on earth and,
with her hands on his shoulders, pushed him back as if to get a good look at him. p.84
In this situation, Mack gains the feeling of being loved, although it comes from someone he barely knows, but Mack can feel the purity of the love that the
woman gives. Here, the character of God is depicted as a big African-American woman p.84. God does not appear in a male form because Mack has a bad memory
about a figure of a father, so Mack sees God as a woman. It can be seen that Mack himself who decides what he wants to see, that is why Mack sees a figure of a
mother, instead of a man. This love that Mack gets from the woman is fulfilling his needs of safety, the second needs. He knows that the woman will not harm him in any
circumstances.
c. Love and Belongingness Needs
Chapter Seven of The Shack starts with the fulfillment of Mack’s third needs, love and belongingness. It starts with the example of love and belongingness.
Mack was shocked at the scene in front of him. It appeared that Jesus had dropped a large bowl of some sort of batter or
sauce on the floor, and it was everywhere. It must have landed close to Papa because the lower portion of her skirt and bare
feet were covered in the gooey mess. They were laughing so hard that Mack didn’t think they were breathing. Sarayu said
something about human being clumsy, and all three started
roaring again. Finally, Jesus brushed past Mack and returned a minute later with a large basin of water and towels. Sarayu had
already started wiping the goop from the floor and cupboards, but Jesus went straight to Papa and kneeling at her feet, began to
wipe off the front of her clothes. He worked down to her feet and gently lifted one foot at a time, which he directed into the
basin where he cleaned and massaged it. p.106
At first, Mack is given an example of love and belongingness, and the example is something that Mack usually faces from his daily life. Just simple case,
when one of the children drops the dinner. The different is, Mack sees the scene from a very different perspective, and Mack realizes it.
As he leaned against the doorway watching, Mack was full of thoughts. So this was God in relationship? It was beautiful
and so appealing. He knew that it didn’t matter whose fault it was—the mess from some bowl that had been broken, that a
planned dish would not be shared. Obviously, what was truly important here was the love they had for one another and the
fullness it brought them. He shook his head. How different this was from the way he sometimes treated the ones he loved.
p.107
It opens Mack’s eyes about the fact that he often treats people he loves badly, and it includes his family. Mack has killed his father with the varmint poison
and had left his mother and sisters before p.10. Yet, beyond such a feeling, Mack actually feels something else. Mack is starting to feel that Missy’s death is not his
fault, and also it is not anybody faults. Missy’s death is symbolized by the dish that Jesus has dropped, so there is no body to be blamed. The scene is also Mack’s
creation. He creates this scene in the process of healing himself, and further, healing his family from The Great Sadness.
d. Self Esteem Needs
