Marks

One of the blogs that I check on a daily basis is "Kelly's Korner." This gal started her blog to talk about her struggles with infertility.  Later she was blessed with a baby girl, Harper, who had a rough start, but is now healthy and beautiful.  Kelly just recently had a new baby, Hollis, and she did a blog post a few days ago that has given me such perspective on motherhood.  A pregnancy definitely takes its toll on your body.  Between weight gain, stretch marks, white hairs, etc., it is really hard to feel beautiful after pregnancy.  And I know that many of my girlfriends have felt the same way after having babies.

Any how, a few days ago she was blogging about how her confidence has felt low since having a baby and she was asking her many followers if they had suggestions for encouragement.  I don't usually look at the comments on her blog because she has like 9,000 followers, but I was curious to see what kind of responses she received.  One of the readers hit it right on the head.  After reading her comment to Kelly, I was totally blown away at her outlook on the "remnants" of motherhood.  Rather than paraphrasing, I thought I would just post her entire comment.

"Kelly, I've continued to have you on my mind throughout today. I think it is a great blessing that you are so open and honest with your readers. Everyone needs to know that they are not alone. The Lord laid something else on my mind that I just had to share. I know I feel like I've said enough already, but it's so obvious that so many of us feel this way at times and need encouragement. So, here goes....


I was thinking about how the Lord bore physical stripes and permanent scars for us. The flabby tummies, bad skin, dry hair that's failing out (I've so been here too, even recently), the extra weight...it all pails in comparison to what He endure for us. Motherhood leaves it's mark, but isn't it so beautiful!! Just think of it that way. Jesus sacrificed his body and life for us. That's what we are also called to do as mothers. Someone once told me that when I've feeling bad about my extra pounds or flabby tummy, I should thank Him. These things are physical proof of His blessing - the blessing of a child. We still want to do our part to honor Him by taking care of ourselves, but we need to have grace with ourselves too."

The point is, the next time I look at the lovely stretch marks Liam left me when he "dropped" before his big arrival, and I feel embarrassed, I will try to remember to thank God for giving me the opportunity to have those stretch marks. It kind of helps to put things in perspective...