If you’ve been around me for more than a second you know that I’m a big fan of lace. I wear it all the time; maybe even every day. The other day I was driving and thinking…..(I only think when I’m driving because that is the only time where it is quiet enough for me to think lol) Motherhood is a lot like lace. Before you’re a mama, looking at motherhood from afar, it looks so beautiful, fun, and maybe even, dare I say, whimsical, but from the moment you put on that hat of motherhood you realize just how complicated and intricate motherhood is. And sometimes it really isn’t pretty. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a mama and it is by far the best job I’ve ever had, but as a mama I am challenged. I am relearning how to love myself and offer grace to myself in this phase despite the amount of times I fail. Motherhood stretches me; I feel like I have my hands in so many buckets and just extended as far as I can go. And I wouldn’t have it any other way, because these children make me a better version of myself.
Lace from afar looks really beautiful, elegant, and expensive but when you get close you see that it is complicated and intricate and honestly it is filled with holes. Lace is only strong by the thousands of little strands that connect the smaller pieces together but it is still filled with holes (and usually more expensive…how does that work?! holes should make it cheaper, right?!). If you're like me, I am continually dropping the ball; things are always falling through the cracks. I am failing on a daily basis, and so many times I am just like one of those little teeny pieces of thread barely holding on, and on other days I'm like the center of the lace design strengthened by all the spokes around it. I have to continue recommitting on a daily basis to training my children and focusing on what matters most. I may be spread as far as I think I can go, but I have to stay focused on my major priorities.
Much like lace, motherhood is fragile and dainty, and we need to stick together, not shred the tiny strands next to us. We need to support one another and encourage each other in the good and in the dark and ugly. If it weren’t for those mamas who have come up next to me, my motherhood tribe (and you know who you are, thank you!) I do not know where I would be. Well I’d be crazier, that I do know lol But in all seriousness some pieces of lace are only as strong as their neighbor and alone are fragile and isolated. Because of the wisdom of our motherhood tribe we can navigate these intricate waters and be strong together, and ultimately better pour into our children.
When motherhood looks like lace, you are filled with holes, and pieces of you are walking around the earth. I am not whole, but my holiness makes me complete. As if I, the lace, was designed to be filled with holes; to pour out and into my children and where the Father can complete me. I never really thought about why I like lace so much, but I think I will look at it differently from now on.
