“It takes a village…”
Never will you comprehend the truth of this statement until you are responsible for not only keeping a small human alive, but also feel the pressure from all sides and opinions of every person you know and even more from those who you don’t know (thanks, social media…)!
This place? The JML Family? This is a safe place. We are here FOR YOU. We exist to take away the shame, guilt, and pressure that the world consistently provides for us as mothers.
I heard once that when an elephant is giving birth, the other female elephants in the herd will gather around her in a tight circle providing both protection and privacy as she brings new life into the world while becoming her most vulnerable.
This picture brought me to (happy) tears because as I heard this, I pictured the faces of MY herd. My people. My supporters and encouragers. The women who have bolstered my courage and spoken truth over and into me from day one of my motherhood. I HAVE this kind of support.
Not everyone is so lucky.
I am very keenly aware of how rare the incredibly beautiful friendships I cherish actually are, and my hope is to provide a bit of that for those of you who long for that.
Through Joyfully Managing Life, in the private Facebook group, and in person, we are here for each other. We are here to encourage, to challenge, to support, to laugh with, cry with, mourn with, celebrate with, and so many other things – Do you think we even recognized half of the emotions we would feel before these children became our responsibility??
We have a unique opportunity to speak into the lives of the children we are given while they are under our care, and it takes a lot of humility, mistakes, apologies, grace and courage to speak into them in a way that is not just “fun” but also setting them up for success as they grow into adulthood.
My prayer for this community that we are building is that we might look for ways to build one another up as we circle around one another – holding up the arms of the women who grow weary, and speaking truth and tips to one another along the way.
We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, Mama. Others have gone before us and have so much wisdom to share. No matter where you are in your motherhood, there is always one coming up behind you, and what you have learned in your time ahead of them is as precious as gold.
Would you share your wisdom? Would you be vulnerable enough to share your failures and what you learned through them? We are all hungry for motherly wisdom, and what you have to offer is just that! We have this gift of social media that our mothers before us did not. Let’s use it for good, build and strengthen relationships, and build one another up.
Our private Facebook Group: JML Family will only be as strong as those in it and how much interactions there are. I hope you’ll join us.
Won’t you?? <3
