I haven't posted anything here in AGES. But there is something that has been rolling around in my head that completely relates to something I just read, and it's my lunch hour - so here ya go :).
I turned 35 in August. I've spent a lot of time thinking about being a woman in her 30s (You might have noticed). I've come to understand that whole "youth is wasted on the young" thing and wondered why I couldn't have the brain, heart, and boldness I've got now in a 20 year old body. And I've wondered why God makes us stronger and makes us feel more beautiful right after culture has told us we've peaked. Right when all of your skin starts shifting.
I have a lot of friends who are moms to newborns and young children. I love to watch them being moms. This observation has answered some of my questions. I think God makes women in their 30s and 40s a special kind of bold beautiful because that is when children are most watching them and learning about what it means to be a woman. Because that lets us grow up with memories and images of beautiful women in our lives and what they looked like at our birthday parties and at the beach and when leading Sunday School. Women in their 30s and 40s aren't lovely so much for the empty enticements of the world but for the hopes and dreams of the world.
I get such joy at seeing my friends' children interact with their moms because it reminds me that they get to remember these women at this stage too - while we're all in awe of them.
Not that beauty caps out at a certain age and not that we ever stop learning from watching women's plot lines as they age, just that this is a special window.
So, when Shauna Niequist posted on what she has learned from her mom in different stages, I simply had to finally get it out of my brain. In a nutshell, the advice from her mother is to boldly be who we were created to be even when wearing the different hats of wife, mom, aunt, sister, daughter because children are watching and taking note and children need us to be fully alive. It's a great read:
http://shaunaniequist.com/mother-taught/
