1 Timothy 2:15
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Motherhood is an act of service and its sacrifices are rewarded with badges of honor.
Stretch marks are better than tattoos. Tattoos may express your individuality, but stretch marks declare your hospitality.
Galatians 6:17
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Tattoos are the marks of our own choosing, but stretch marks are the stamps of God's work in you. Scars are rewards for having done something and a testimony that hard times have been survived. Mothering is good, hard work and it has many rewards.
Proverbs 31:28
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
A stranger may compliment your tattoo, but your children complement your stretch marks. The ink on your arm may give someone an idea, but the stretch marks on your body gave someone life.
Psalm 128:3
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
The fruitful vine will bear marks of pruning, but it also will bear much fruit.
Proverbs 31:30-31
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
There is a beauty that fades over time and there is a beauty that grows more divine. The fruit of her hands is babies at her breast and a few reminders on her belly. Those babies will grow up, but the marks will remain. As a man with calloused hands can be trusted to provide, so a woman with stretch marks can be trusted to pour herself out. She already has. She has been hospitable and welcoming and as a result she enjoys their company.
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, "Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."
God makes mothers into companies of warriors. Though those bands of brothers may leave bands around her belly, they also leave a legacy of life and livelihood in the land. She produces the arrows that pierce the heart of the darkness. The warriors of tomorrow are in the wombs of women today. Nations are nested in the nativity. Do not, for the shade of the world, pick the temporary markings of your on choosing over eternal badges of your Lord's blessings.
"Mary overcame in the way women are called to conquer—by giving birth to conquerors, or by giving birth to daughters who will give birth to conquerors. And this explains how the Magnificat can have been composed by a woman and still be so gloriously militant. Godly child-bearing is militant. The seed of the woman has crushed the dragon’s head." — Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry
Stretch marks are badges of honor. They are like medals awarded for courageous acts in wartime service. The Commander in Chief generously bestows them on His soldiers and they, in turn, wear them always and display them proudly on their persons.
No comments:
Post a Comment