“Me and the Girls”
I'll have to be careful with my words for this one...
Hear my heart...
Let me tell you something. Sometimes, being a woman can feel pretty bad. Even if you absolutely love womanhood, some seasons of it are kinda depressing. The fact that we are the ones who were designed to “make babies” and sustain them is not debatable nor dishonorable. It is however, often unappreciated and certainly not glamorized in any way. We just “get through it” and patiently wait for the time when we can have our bodies back and become acceptable again, in the world of idealic, slender pretty.
I had very large babies...4 of them...the first weighing 10lb 4oz, and necessary bed rest during those pregnancies added to the enlargement of my physical state of being, not to mention my ability to walk well. I remember rolling out of the van at 9 months, looking at the door I had to waddle to and challenged myself to straighten my gait and beautifully move, like a graceful woman. Right. I did make it to the door, but graceful I was not. I chuckled and thanked God for the privilege to carry a soul. Our idea of beauty is once again hijacked by worldly constructs and it effects even those who KNOW the truth, but just can't FEEL it. It's another mind battle and thought that needs taken captive to the will of Christ. His will in this is that we see beauty as He does...motherhood, pregnancy and nursing are His incredible idea and naturally beautiful...just not in a North American, twisted, dark, hard, pierced, painted and masculinized way. Who decided that?
Even I would prefer to be tanned and muscley...to be honest. Jiggly just doesn't feel pretty on me...go figure...pardon the pun. And maybe that is more beautiful in the eye of this beholder, but why does it matter so much? Shouldn't what we are doing be of more importance that how we appear? Think about the science of it...a human being is being manufactured in our body!! After that's done, we are producing life sustaining milk, liquid gold, with no recipe nor expense except to drink lots of water and take a forced sit down break every few hours or so!! Incredible!! And honestly, an honor that we cannot take the credit for, but do, with great pride and appreciation.
To allude to us who have gone through this, in a bovine way, might be offensive, but really, I think these girls are beautiful too. My husband said to me once, at the height of my reproductive enlargement, “There is nothing more beautiful than a woman in full bloom”. I really appreciated that, in my puffy state of despair, and I never forgot it. Anytime I see a cow mom, ready to give birth or feed, I whisper to her a word of admiration and tell her that she looks beautiful...not that that happens a lot...ok...it only happened once, but should it happen again, I will speak those words of love and truth to her.
Oh, that we would look past the outward, twisted idea of beauty and glory in the miraculous! But we know...and we empathize...and we remind each other of how beautiful we really are...me and the girls.