The Right Kind Of Damages

“Motherhood is a demanding job.  It is so demanding and intrusive, in fact, that it takes over your body.  It uses your body, oftentimes rather roughly. This can start to bother us.  you may have some extra weight to lose, and you might start to resent that.  You might have permanently damaged something during a pregnancy.  You may have big scars, stretch marks, and loose skin that bothers you.  You might not have time to exercise the way you used to.  All these things can be seen as an offense against us - against our bodies. . .

First of all, our bodies are tools, not treasures.  You should not spend your days trying to preserve your body in it’s eighteen-year-old form.  Let it be used.  By the time you die, you want to have a very dinged and dinted body.  Motherhood uses your body in the way that God designed it to be used.  Those are the right kind of damages. . .

So realize that your body is a testimony to the world of God’s design.  Carry the extra weight joyfully until you can lose it joyfully.  Carry the scars joyfully as you carry the fruit of them.  Do not resent the damages that your children left on your body.  Just like a guitar mellows and sounds better with age and scratches, so your body can more fully praise God having been used for His purposes.  So don’t resent it, enjoy it.”

-Rachel Jankovic, Loving The Little Years