Grit.
Sand and dirt that works its way into tight spaces, causing friction, reshaping with its tiny immovable hands. It polishes, producing glimmering pearls worn with pride and passed through generations.
Grit.
A Personality trait attributed to over-comers whose weathered spots give them courage, resolve, and strength of character. We say they have fortitude as they move against the grain, their history of friction moving them forward into more. Long-suffering requires grit; a core strength that keeps one pressing on toward hope that lasts.
I live in a world of motherhood. My life is all about it (the diaper I found in my bed this morning can attest to this). It’s not just my world though, it is THE world. Entering into motherhood was like opening a door to a secret universe, one I had unknowingly been living in (and not appreciating) my entire life. Women, who by nature and by choice do incredibly hard things, all in the background, all while sacrificing their very bodies for the benefit of all others. I am humbled to fall into these ranks, filled to the brim with gritty women, stoic and facedown, praying David prayers over lost children.
Daily, I have the privilege of interacting with women who endure. Remembering babies you never got to hold. Nursing loved-ones who’ve grown old while new ones toddle at your ankles. You go to bed tired, only to wake to feed babies you did not birth, who may only know your love for months or even weeks. You stand powerfully aside as your grown child makes mistakes, ready to embrace, encourage, pray, and send back out. Bedsides with permanent indentions testify to your strength as you memorize diagnoses and treatment plans—smiling and tickling bellies as your insides scream with grief. Personal assistants and expensive heels are traded in for loneliness and sweatpants as you revel in new life while feeling you’ve lost some part of you. Life moves on repeat: laundry, dishes, don’t touch that, say thank you, stop hitting, eat your peas…you dance to the soundtrack of tantrums and teacher notes and college applications and you wake up the next day to do it all again.
You are moms with grit.
This series is an exploration and celebration of the grittiness of motherhood. My hope is that you will be encouraged and empowered as you do hard things for His glory!
– Beth
To read more in this series, click below…
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