It is sometimes beneficial to assign personal qualities to God, to imagine Him as a compassionate, patient, forgiving, helpful and instructive Supreme Being. This kind of personalization, while limited and incomplete, fosters a feeling of closeness and kinship, an intimate emotional bond between the Spirit of Creation and ourselves. We can feel like children of a perfect parent, guided and protected by a heavenly Father. This can give us a sense of the true comfort of the spiritual life.
Nick Hilton - Reflections 