Motherhood is messy. It’s mounds of mac ‘n’ cheese and macrame art. Motherhood magnifies mere mortals, makes Marian martyrs out of mall rats. Motherhood is a masquerade, a mission, a mirror. It’s the ministry of missing mittens. It mutates and metabolizes, muddles minds and mesmerizes. It’s the merging of meek and mighty. It’s malodorous and melodious. It’s midwinter mud pies and midweek mayhem. Motherhood is maniacal and methodical, mysterious and mischievous, modern and medieval. Motherhood is morning musings, mid-afternoon make-believe, and midnight melodies. Motherhood is the madrigal and the marching band; it’s major keys and minor chords. It’s minivans and movie marathons, a mash-up of the mercurial and monochrome. Motherhood is moonshine: a mixology of the molecular and metaphysical. It’s the murky middle, muscle memory. Motherhood is a marriage of the miraculous and mundane. It’s a metamorphosis, a mosaic of the mystic and material. It is equal measure milk and marrow.

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Inspired by Claire Wahmanholm via The Isolation Journals, this post is a part of the blog tour for The Beauty of Motherhood: Grace-Filled Devotions for the Early Years. Written by my friends, Kim Knowle-Zeller and Erin Strybis, this lovely book uses scripture, stories, prayers, and practices to provide mothers with refreshment and the reminder that they are not alone as they mother. Preorder The Beauty of Motherhood at Bookshop, Amazon, or Target. The Beauty of Motherhood releases on March 21.

Click here to read another post in the series by Fay Gordon and here to read one by Jessica Folkema.

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Looking for more words about motherhood and finding beauty in sacred/ordinary things (with occasional snark)? Subscribe to my newsletter, Late to the Party. Every couple of months, you’ll receive a short note from me, some personal recommendations, and a journal prompt.