I put this stinky cream on my belly twice a day while I was pregnant with my son in an attempt to avoid stretch marks. I read that certain foods helped with skin elasticity and that there were vitamins I could take to help my skin heal as well. But if the lotions and the creams and taking all the vitamins didn’t help, as a last resort backup, I would also pray, “Lord. No stretch marks please. In the MIGHTY name of Jesus. Amen.”
But, you know, despite all my best efforts, three babies later, my tummy stretched and shrunk and swelled again creating a home for my precious little ones to grow – and it left marks to remind me of our story.
This morning, I dropped my baby boy off at kindergarten and then took my little girl to Pre-k. I came home with just one baby on my hip, and I looked around my house.
It seemed so still.
When we are all here together, it feels so full. There is life brimming over the edges. The kids run around the couches and up the stairs. They laugh and they disagree and they argue. They are polite and they learn and they try again. We practice loving the world as we learn how to love one another here at home. Sometimes, that looks messy. Sometimes, that looks like getting it wrong and asking for forgiveness and offering grace. There is laughter. There is praise. There are tears.
Our home is full of life.
But as I walked in the door without two of my babies, the space felt – quieter – emptier.
And I realized that I had been stretched.
You know, when we became mommas, we knew that we were agreeing to growth. We knew that our bodies would grow, and our babies would grow, and our families would all inevitably grow.
But, friend, our hearts… Oh, our hearts are surely what grew the most.
And that is the beauty of the marks.
That is the beauty of being a momma with a stretch-marked heart. All of that love that you never knew was possible before you became a momma… all of those moments that have lead up to this one… have all filled your heart and left lines that tell the story – “Life was here.”
Maybe things feel different for you right now because you just took your baby to their first day of daycare. Or perhaps like me, your babies are off to their first days of school. Maybe your babies aren’t so little anymore, and they are in middle school or high school for the first time this year. Or maybe you are a few years ahead of me and your baby is off to their next great adventure – university, a new profession, or even a family of their own.
Friend, no matter what season you find yourself in right now, no matter what is causing your space to feel a little emptier… I’m right there with you. And today, I’m thanking God for leaving a different kind of stretch marks for each of us.
