Mother

Mother.

Your infant with their milk-sticky cheeks, your toddler with their wobbly walk, your big kid with their budding curiosity and endless questions, your tween with their changing bodies and confused emotions, your teen with their boundary-pushing independence,

your children who view life as an adventure to be had, a wonder to enjoy, a world to figure out.

Who told you to navigate their changes with grace and patience and empathy

while neglecting your own changes?

Who told you to ignore your needs?

Who told you it was selfish to give yourself space to 

dream

and grow

and change

and desire.

Sacrificial. 

Martyr mother.

The suffering, blurry-eyed, barely-holding-it-together mother, is held in high esteem.  The woman who always puts her needs last.

You didn't know that when you find the things that 

reignite that spark

light up your curiosity

flip a switch in your soul

make you feel alive again

or make you feel alive for the first time

are what make you a shining example to your observant children of what it is to be a full human. 

You didn't know that you were a child having children 

and that curiosity and growth were just as important for you as for them.

You didn't know that as you're teaching your little one how to say "no", it was as important for you to re-learn this for yourself.

We can learn from them.

Their innocence, their scientific methods of trying things over and over and over and over again, their delight in seeing what their bodies can do, their ability to rest when they need it, being vocal about their needs or displeasure or joy. 

Some say children are born with a sinful nature, and it's our job as parents to rid them of it as quickly as possible.

But if we understand that sin is merely a label, a word, a term that explains

missing the mark--missing the point--

the point of LIFE, the point of union with the divine, the point of connection with each other--

then our perception of childhood sinfulness is backward. 

Children have it right. We unlearn what we intrinsically know as we grow and learn new, missing-the-point things. We are their students, to relearn what it is to be free.

Don't miss the point, mother. You are just as valuable as the little souls who are watching you. Teach them with your self-love. Teach them with your self-compassion. Teach them with your self-care. Teach them with your self-confidence. Teach them about the divine feminine, and how she creates and flows and births wisdom. Teach them with your authenticity. Teach them to be themselves, in all the messy, beautiful, abundant ways, as you accept your inner child over and over again, integrating the wild, carefree, expansive you that you are.