In my desire to live authentically I was confronted yesterday by the phrase “Fiercely Vulnerable”. This year the MOPS theme is “Fiercely Flourishing” and each month we have chosen a theme and for the month of February we are focusing on what is looks like and means to be “Fiercely Vulnerable”. Vulnerability is not something that I think we as humans desire. I know that I shy away from times of being vulnerable. I never want to appear to not have it all together. I want to always put up the facade of control. How sad is that?!?! Sad yes, but there I am expressing a deep dark secret of mine and therefore being vulnerable.
As I sat at the table with seven other moms, I realized I was in a safe place. Many of the woman that sit in that room are some of the best ladies I have had the privilege of knowing. Having been a part of this MOPS group for over seven years, the woman are considered my tribe. Granted, I am an “old” mom in the group, this being my last year and all, but I was safe.
We had a speaker that came and talked about Postpartum Depression and Loss and Grief. As she spoke I found myself nodding in agreement and thinking to myself, “I am so glad that, that season is behind me!” But while she spoke I heard the sniffles of other moms resignating so deeply with her words that I was moved. I remember sitting in that MOPS room thinking that I can’t do this whole mom thing like… (add another woman’s name) and there is no way I will ever get the baby weight off like… (add another woman’s name), my first year of MOPS was full of thinking that I was a lost cause. Now six years later I know that there are moms that sit at their tables feeling like I did and I am so beyond grateful for MOPS at our church.
The discussion time around my table was an opportunity for me to share that I don’t like being vulnerable, but now being on the flip side of many of the moms with their first little bundle of joy sitting in their laps I can say, do it – be vulnerable, let others see you and see those around you. Only when we become vulnerable can we truly reach out of our little world and touch others and allow them to touch our lives.
In hopes of living authentically in this little corner, I want you to know that being vulnerable is a tough one for me. However over the last nine years of being a mom and all that comes with, I have figured out that allowing the curtain to fall as it were, I have grown as a woman, a wife, a mother and a friend! So I encourage you too, let the facade fall – be real, your true friends are waiting on the other side of that curtain!
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