WEBVTT 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:03.600 Sometimes we forget the power of language and 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.480 the way it evolves. I'm particularly grateful 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:09.720 for new words that offer a container for a previously 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:13.380 unarticulated truth. Like the new term bed rotting. 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:16.739 New TikTok trend deemed as bed rotting. Bed rotting. 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:18.640 Bed rotting. Bed rotting. I'm gonna bed rot for 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.969 the rest of the day. Bed rotting is the word 00:00:20.969 --> 00:00:23.289 for laying in bed for hours and doing nothing, 00:00:23.410 --> 00:00:25.750 which could be classified as depression, yes, 00:00:25.969 --> 00:00:28.750 but most of us moms would call it the perfect 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:31.390 Mother's Day. Or the phrase girl dinner. Have 00:00:31.390 --> 00:00:33.649 you heard of this one? This is my meal. I call 00:00:33.649 --> 00:00:36.770 this girl dinner. I call this girl dinner. Girl 00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:39.689 dinner. Girl dinner. Girl dinner. Girl dinner. 00:00:39.789 --> 00:00:42.409 Girl dinner describes the small random meals 00:00:42.409 --> 00:00:44.770 we throw together on those rare occasions where 00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:47.890 we only have to feed ourselves, like some apples 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:51.179 and peanut butter. a gobstopper, some kimchi, 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:54.579 and a handful of flaming hot Cheetos. It's random, 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.859 it's convenient, it's minimalist. It may or may 00:00:57.859 --> 00:01:00.740 not be nutritious, but girlies everywhere finally 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:02.960 found a phrase for those meals that men would 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:05.920 never classify as a meal, but that we've been 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.540 throwing together for decades. Or the retort 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:10.879 I just learned the other day, touch grass. If 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.079 you have teenagers, you probably know this one. 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:16.359 Go touch some grass. What does touch grass mean? 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:19.560 I was nominated by Amina to do the touch grass 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:22.519 challenge. Go outside and touch some grass like 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.280 I'm doing right now. Touch grass is what you 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:27.540 say to people who need to take a chill pill from 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:30.219 the digital world and go outside to reconnect 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:33.500 with nature. It's the toddler equivalent of you 00:01:33.500 --> 00:01:35.920 need a nap. It's what could be said to those 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.519 keyboard warriors that pop up in Facebook comments 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:41.439 and Twitter feeds. And if anyone tells me to 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.900 call Twitter X, I would say to you, go touch 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:47.719 grass. All of that to say, when new terms enter 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:50.620 our vernacular, they not only enrich our language 00:01:50.620 --> 00:01:53.180 and connection to one another, but they also 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:56.200 validate our personal experiences. These things 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:58.599 help us feel seen, which is a powerful thing 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:01.239 to be. It's all any of us really want to be. 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:04.750 Seen. And there's a new word that helps us feel 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:10.689 just that. Motherhood is history's greatest untold 00:02:10.689 --> 00:02:14.009 story. It's built empires, fueled revolutions 00:02:14.009 --> 00:02:16.969 and pushed the boundaries of science. And yet, 00:02:17.009 --> 00:02:20.370 because it happens in quiet rooms, behind closed 00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:22.830 doors, it's been left out of the grand narrative. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:27.180 But make no mistake, motherhood is not just tenderness. 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:31.060 It's raw, unrelenting, a force that tears you 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:34.580 apart and remakes you over and over again. It's 00:02:34.580 --> 00:02:39.520 blood, bone, love, and sheer will. This isn't 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:43.240 a story about sacrifice. It's a story about power, 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.000 about what it means to become a mother and what 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.139 it means to never stop becoming. This is Bloodline 00:02:50.139 --> 00:03:21.500 and Backbone. what we've learned throughout this 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:25.020 series is that moms are the ultimate system changers 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:28.219 Moms change faith systems, economic systems, 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.879 community systems, medical systems, cultural 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:34.020 systems, family systems, and countless others. 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:36.580 But you know what system motherhood changes first? 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:40.520 Our own. Our very own biology and brain chemistry. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.379 If you've ever felt like you were losing your 00:03:43.379 --> 00:03:46.379 mind after becoming a mother, well, you kind 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:48.800 of were, but not in the way culture makes it 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.080 sound, not in that silly sitcom -y way of, when 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.840 did I put the milk in the pantry? It's more than 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:58.000 that. See, your brain was literally rewired. 00:03:58.060 --> 00:04:00.139 And there's a term for this. You may have heard 00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:03.020 it. It's called matrescence. It's like adolescence, 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:05.759 but instead of growing into adulthood, you're 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.939 growing into motherhood. Here's Lucy Jones, author 00:04:08.939 --> 00:04:11.360 of the book Matrescence, on this metamorphosis. 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:15.860 My experience of becoming a mother was one of 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:24.649 great astonishment and shock. how much harder 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:28.149 the work of caregiving was. I was amazed by my 00:04:28.149 --> 00:04:32.990 beautiful baby but I was especially bowled over 00:04:32.990 --> 00:04:39.970 by the sense of metamorphosis and that I was 00:04:39.970 --> 00:04:42.670 a different person. I'd been led to believe that 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:44.930 pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood would 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:48.250 be a kind of external and environmental change. 00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:52.220 But actually it was the most, well, physical, 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:56.339 but psychological, emotional, mental, social, 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:02.699 existential experience of my life. As the months 00:05:02.699 --> 00:05:06.680 went on, as my daughter was growing, I felt kind 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:11.620 of strangely altered and rewired. And as a journalist 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:15.420 who writes about science and health, I was interested, 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:20.769 fascinated in what was happening to me. I started 00:05:20.769 --> 00:05:22.870 to read about the science of the maternal brain, 00:05:23.129 --> 00:05:26.949 the science of hormones, what actually happens 00:05:26.949 --> 00:05:32.569 in that period. And at the same time, I was really 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:36.850 struggling. I thought that maybe there was something 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:39.930 wrong with me to be feeling so kind of discombobulated 00:05:39.930 --> 00:05:46.199 and bewildered. Matrescence is the metamorphosis 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.839 every mom is intimately, terrifyingly familiar 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.480 with. It's as seismic and sacred as it sounds. 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:57.000 Just like adolescence, matrescence is hormonal. 00:05:57.100 --> 00:06:00.699 It's emotional, messy, transformational. But 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:03.180 here's the problem. We don't treat it like that. 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:06.319 Most of what we hear about the maternal experience 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.720 is drenched in condescension. Mom brain, momnesia, 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:14.519 baby blues. That sounds cute, which is the opposite 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:17.819 of what that experience was for most of us. We 00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:20.720 often see this tired stereotype of the scattered 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:23.279 mom who used to be sharp but now wears mismatched 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:26.100 socks and calls everyone buddy. But the truth 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:29.579 is, your brain isn't malfunctioning. It's rebuilding. 00:06:30.420 --> 00:06:32.639 Pregnancy and parenting don't just change our 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.680 lives. They literally rewire our neural pathways. 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:39.160 According to neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay, 00:06:39.220 --> 00:06:42.110 the maternal brain doesn't dissolve. It evolves. 00:06:42.329 --> 00:06:44.910 In her book, Baby Brain, she unpacks exactly 00:06:44.910 --> 00:06:47.649 how motherhood sculpts our brains and reshapes 00:06:47.649 --> 00:06:50.250 our minds. We've been led to believe it's for 00:06:50.250 --> 00:06:52.089 the worse, but it's actually for the better. 00:06:52.230 --> 00:06:55.170 Things like empathy, memory, multitasking, and 00:06:55.170 --> 00:06:58.350 motivation become sharper, becoming rewired to 00:06:58.350 --> 00:07:02.230 suit a new role. You're neurochemically recalibrating 00:07:02.230 --> 00:07:04.410 to keep a human alive, and that's just the beginning. 00:07:04.769 --> 00:07:07.449 Here's Dr. Sarah McKay to talk about this process, 00:07:07.709 --> 00:07:10.589 what exactly happens to the brain during matrescence 00:07:10.589 --> 00:07:13.430 and beyond, and what might change if we stop 00:07:13.430 --> 00:07:16.189 treating mom brain like a punchline. and started 00:07:16.189 --> 00:07:18.670 honoring it like the superpower it really is. 00:07:19.230 --> 00:07:21.870 So this is a word that people use, as you said, 00:07:21.910 --> 00:07:23.610 different words around the world to describe 00:07:23.610 --> 00:07:28.100 feeling forgetful. lack of attention the inability 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:30.399 to kind of function in the way that you felt 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:33.139 that you were cognitively able to before pregnancy 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:35.939 or parenthood and if we look at women around 00:07:35.939 --> 00:07:37.800 four out of five women will put their hands up 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:42.019 and say hey yes that's me i i feel that way but 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:44.040 what's really interesting is when we bring these 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:46.379 women into the research lab either during pregnancy 00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:49.860 or in early motherhood and apply a range of cognitive 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:53.180 tests we just simply don't pick up any evidence 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.439 of broad scale cognitive decline these women 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:57.860 aren't aren't losing their minds, they aren't 00:07:57.860 --> 00:08:01.740 becoming more forgetful. So we've got quite a 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:04.800 paradox here. We've got the experience of women 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:07.920 saying, hey, the subjective experience of feeling 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.740 forgetful, and then the objective lab testing 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:12.360 saying, hey, look, we're not really picking anything 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:14.620 up. So what's going on in the middle there? And 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:17.740 certainly as a neuroscientist, when I was told 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:19.720 that this was a thing, I just sort of dismissed 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:21.300 it. I thought, what would Mother Nature's intention 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:25.790 be? to make women kind of more stupid during 00:08:25.790 --> 00:08:28.629 pregnancy and and motherhood and certainly our 00:08:28.629 --> 00:08:31.209 understanding from the mammalian kingdom is mothers 00:08:31.209 --> 00:08:34.309 show cognitive enhancement they get better at 00:08:34.309 --> 00:08:36.850 doing what they do when when they go through 00:08:36.850 --> 00:08:39.250 pregnancy and motherhood various researchers 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:41.490 have gone in and looked at that and there's there's 00:08:41.490 --> 00:08:44.669 a number of explanations in there one is it's 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:47.409 very much associated with a sense of well -being 00:08:47.409 --> 00:08:51.679 so women who are more anxious depressed, sleep 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:55.440 deprived, typically report lower wellbeing during 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:58.679 pregnancy or early motherhood, are much more 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:02.059 likely to rate their memory as poor, even if 00:09:02.059 --> 00:09:05.340 they sit down and do memory tests and we say, 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:08.039 hey, look, your memory's fine. So there's a real 00:09:08.039 --> 00:09:11.340 kind of a self -perception part of that. Another 00:09:11.340 --> 00:09:14.700 part is why do we remember and how do we remember? 00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:18.720 And memory depends on attention, what information 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.500 we take in. and what information we filter out 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:25.559 and our pregnant brains have been reorganized 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:27.759 to focus in on keeping this new little human 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:30.759 alive and to read their social cues and to understand 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:33.440 who they are so we've really got an enormous 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.639 shift of attention either when you're pregnant 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:38.379 you've got a baby in your belly um or keeping 00:09:38.379 --> 00:09:41.360 this this new little person in your life healthy 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.559 and safe and alive so we've got an enormous shift 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.679 in attention and if we forget you know you forget 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.029 we've the classic way you've put your keys or 00:09:50.029 --> 00:09:53.049 to check your emails. It's not because you're 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:55.409 experiencing some kind of cognitive deficit. 00:09:56.389 --> 00:09:58.789 It's simply that your attention was focused somewhere 00:09:58.789 --> 00:10:02.029 far more important. And then thirdly is this 00:10:02.029 --> 00:10:05.330 concept whereby women are sort of expected to 00:10:05.330 --> 00:10:08.110 do it all. We have this dreadful phrase, super 00:10:08.110 --> 00:10:10.549 mum. If she's a super mum, no one needs to help 00:10:10.549 --> 00:10:12.570 because she can do it all. And when you're trying 00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:15.049 to do it all, you simply can't. And when you 00:10:15.049 --> 00:10:18.480 drop the ball. We've kind of been primed as girls 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:20.580 and women through our lives that when we've got 00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:22.840 our brains and then you sort of add in reproductive 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.759 hormones or reproductive function, that that 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:28.539 is synonymous with cognitive decline and emotional 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:31.919 instability. So if you aren't really coping, 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.080 you forget one thing, well, you just internalize 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.470 that and blame your brain. I'll blame baby brain, 00:10:37.649 --> 00:10:40.710 blame my hormones when the issue might be social 00:10:40.710 --> 00:10:43.250 support. It may be that you simply can't do it 00:10:43.250 --> 00:10:45.629 all because it's a really big, it's an entire 00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.250 new career that you're suddenly being, you know, 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:51.230 taken on board. And so that's kind of what I 00:10:51.230 --> 00:10:53.289 think baby brain is almost like kind of a phrase 00:10:53.289 --> 00:10:57.830 we use to describe that sensation or that kind 00:10:57.830 --> 00:11:00.590 of experience of not being able to do what we 00:11:00.590 --> 00:11:03.409 did before. It's not a cognitive issue. It's 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:07.440 a social issue. When your brain changes, everything 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.200 else starts to change too. You don't just look 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:12.220 at your baby differently, you look at the world 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:14.559 differently. You look at yourself differently. 00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:17.019 You notice things you've never noticed before. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.200 The cracks in the healthcare system, the price 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.120 of childcare, school lunch options, the broken 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:24.259 sidewalk outside your neighbor's house where 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:27.340 the stroller always gets stuck. Suddenly the 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:30.539 things that felt abstract now feel personal. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:33.899 The policies, the pain points, the cultural assumptions. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.720 And while the world may tell you you're just 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:40.779 a mom, the truth is your very biology is coursing 00:11:40.779 --> 00:11:43.379 with an extra dose of courage, tenderness, and 00:11:43.379 --> 00:11:46.980 strength. First your mind shifts, then your priorities, 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.539 and then your convictions. These are the qualities 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:52.820 of a powerful leader, and they help you get clear 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:55.360 on what you really care about. You take a job 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:57.700 that pays less but gives you your evenings back. 00:11:58.330 --> 00:12:00.389 You raise your kids with more presence, less 00:12:00.389 --> 00:12:03.289 pressure. You advocate for a friend's kid who 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:05.710 doesn't have a voice in the school system. I 00:12:05.710 --> 00:12:08.230 love how Ellen Pompeo, yes, that's Meredith Gray, 00:12:08.269 --> 00:12:11.149 of course, talks about this shift on Call Her 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:14.610 Daddy. You know, the truth is, at work, I'm not 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:19.090 100 % at work when I have kids at home. I'm absolutely 00:12:19.090 --> 00:12:22.250 not. You cannot be a mother and have children 00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:26.980 and give 100 % to your job. You can't. Because 00:12:26.980 --> 00:12:30.279 there's a part of you that somewhere else you 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:33.419 split into different pieces. You're no longer 00:12:33.419 --> 00:12:36.799 just you. You split into different pieces. And 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.799 you know what that does? It makes you more soulful. 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:43.100 It makes you richer. It makes you funnier. It 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:46.000 makes you feel more. It makes you more empathetic. 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:50.340 It makes you angrier. It gives you this. range 00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:54.539 of emotions that you can't even imagine having 00:12:54.539 --> 00:13:01.259 without this person. You will be yourself times 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:05.100 a thousand. Everything becomes different and 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:07.679 that's how it's supposed to be. Whatever systems 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.620 we find ourselves in as moms, our very presence 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:13.919 is capable of shifting that system, rewiring 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.440 it in the same way our brains are. It doesn't 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:18.740 have to be loud or flashy, but it's radical. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.259 And here's a secret every mom eventually learns. 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:26.159 The system isn't going to save us. We are the 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.419 system. And when mothers shift, so does the world. 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:31.960 So the question is no longer what we have to 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:35.480 survive, but what we get to create. And when 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:37.960 we decide to create, our job is simply to get 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.659 to work, to make art, to raise kids, to write, 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:43.200 to do equations, if that's your thing, to explore 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.600 and experiment. Because we never know how what 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:50.059 we create will impact generations. Our job is 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:54.720 to show up and get to work. One example of how 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.240 what we create can impact generations is found 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:00.600 in the 1990s TV show, The Cosby Show. Up until 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.500 that point, moms had rarely, if ever, been portrayed 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:06.759 on TV as having careers outside the home. However, 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:08.919 the female writers of The Cosby Show decided 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:11.840 that Cosby's wife, Claire, was going to be an 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.919 accomplished lawyer. Her character was winsome, 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.779 smart, good at her job, and also a great mom 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:20.779 and wife. For the first time, moms were seen 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:23.360 as whole women who could do multiple things at 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:26.379 the same time and not become a cliche. This was 00:14:26.379 --> 00:14:29.320 so revolutionary that it sparked a cultural phenomenon 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.340 known as the Claire Huxtable effect, where young 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:35.000 women and moms flooded law schools becoming lawyers. 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:38.019 There are countless studies about how profoundly 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:40.440 Claire Huxtable's character shaped a generation 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:43.720 of women. simply because a handful of writers 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:46.320 decided to write scripts that went against cultural 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:53.519 norms. Society tends to paint motherhood in pastels, 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.919 soft pinks, baby blues, tidy quotes about cherishing 00:14:56.919 --> 00:15:00.919 every moment. But any mom knows motherhood is 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:04.440 technicolor. It's screaming red, bone -tired 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:08.059 gray, neon joy, midnight blue grief. It's all 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:12.399 of it, loud, sacred, disorienting, alive. And 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:16.179 matrescence? It's not a gentle fate. It's a full 00:15:16.179 --> 00:15:18.320 -blown color shift, the kind you don't come back 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:21.299 from because you were never meant to. What if, 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:23.700 instead of laughing off the hard parts or shrinking 00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:26.320 to fit the script, you honor them in your own 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.960 life? What if you stop measuring your experience 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:32.259 against what it should be? and instead named 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:36.100 it for what it is. Not a punchline, not too much, 00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:39.299 not a cliche, but something that deserves to 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:42.460 be seen. A story that's shaping future generations 00:15:42.460 --> 00:15:45.659 because motherhood deserves to be reclaimed. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:57.840 We'll be right back. Let's talk about the word 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.490 reclaim. It's one of those words we toss around 00:16:00.490 --> 00:16:03.210 a lot. Reclaim your time. Reclaim your space. 00:16:03.850 --> 00:16:08.029 Reclaim your power. But it's older and wilder 00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:10.950 than you might think. Back in the 14th century, 00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:14.590 reclaim meant to call back a hawk. Picture that. 00:16:15.070 --> 00:16:18.570 A wild, untamed bird circling overhead and a 00:16:18.570 --> 00:16:21.009 falconer holding out a gloved hand calling it 00:16:21.009 --> 00:16:24.399 home. That was reclaiming, calling back what 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.340 had flown away, not taming it, not trapping it, 00:16:27.419 --> 00:16:30.220 just recognizing that what's wild and distant 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:33.539 might still belong to us. Later, the word took 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:36.220 on more volume. It came to mean to protest, to 00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:38.720 cry out against, to bring back from an erring 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:42.919 path. It became fierce, loud, intentional, a 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.600 fight and a return. And maybe that's exactly 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:48.399 what we're being invited to do now. We don't 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.220 reclaim by going backward. We reclaim by restoring 00:16:51.220 --> 00:16:55.200 what was meant to be whole. Our time, our wonder, 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:00.379 our voices, our joy. We've given a lot away and 00:17:00.379 --> 00:17:03.100 it's time to call it back. So let's bring this 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:05.660 idea to the spiritual level too because the language 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:08.799 of reclaiming, of restoration, of calling back 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.519 the scattered and the lost is woven all throughout 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:14.579 scripture. The gospel story isn't about behavior 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:17.779 management. It's about wholeness. It's about 00:17:17.779 --> 00:17:20.339 things being made right, not just in theory, 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:26.160 but in you. I think it's actually really helpful 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:30.900 to see this image in the Bible of God as a laboring 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:33.640 mom. It might surprise us that actually several 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:35.880 times throughout scripture, God is a mother in 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:39.599 labor. And those spaces are actually not just 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.460 about God as a mother in labor, but they're often 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:45.000 paired with God as a warrior. Which seems really 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:47.980 strange to us because we don't put moms and warriors 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:50.720 together, generally speaking, in our minds. But 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.140 in the ancient world, they did. And the connection 00:17:53.140 --> 00:17:55.799 is this. When mothers in the ancient world were 00:17:55.799 --> 00:17:59.000 giving birth, it was the closest space to death 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.400 that they might face. And they either would die 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.220 in childbirth or they give birth to new life 00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:10.440 and new hope. And so, warriors, for men, the 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:12.519 space where they were most likely to die was 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:15.039 in the heat of battle. And they'd either die 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:18.900 or be victorious. And so, because of this, in 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:23.000 our ancient documents, all surrounding the Bible 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:26.380 and the Bible itself, we get this imagery of 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:30.140 a crisis of a woman crying out in birth pain. 00:18:30.670 --> 00:18:34.029 and of the hope of new life. And this combination 00:18:34.029 --> 00:18:37.089 actually tells us something more broadly about 00:18:37.089 --> 00:18:38.990 the idea of what does it mean to be restored? 00:18:39.190 --> 00:18:41.809 What does it mean to be reclaimed? And you get 00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:44.869 this language several places. So, Isaiah 42 has 00:18:44.869 --> 00:18:47.069 a woman, I love she's just like screaming out 00:18:47.069 --> 00:18:51.670 in childbirth, and her cry is paired with a warrior 00:18:51.670 --> 00:18:55.000 crying in battle. And we have God who is like 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.519 a mother doing this. He's like a warrior and 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.940 like a mother. And we have this language also 00:18:59.940 --> 00:19:03.240 in other places in the New Testament. So, for 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:06.539 example, Jesus compares his death and resurrection 00:19:06.539 --> 00:19:10.619 to a mother giving birth and the cry and the 00:19:10.619 --> 00:19:13.539 labor pains that she would be in, like the grief 00:19:13.539 --> 00:19:16.569 of his death. and her giving birth, like the 00:19:16.569 --> 00:19:19.970 joy, the rejoicing in this new life and resurrection. 00:19:20.390 --> 00:19:22.950 And so, when we talk about a biblical picture 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:25.930 of reclaiming and how God initiates that, even 00:19:25.930 --> 00:19:28.470 the biblical text itself gives pictures of God 00:19:28.470 --> 00:19:31.349 initiating that like a birthing mom and like 00:19:31.349 --> 00:19:34.039 a mom raising her new child. I think this is 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.119 really interesting because what it does is it 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:39.299 tells us that the Bible is aware of both the 00:19:39.299 --> 00:19:43.779 grief and the difficulty that can come with birth 00:19:43.779 --> 00:19:46.799 and that can come with this new experience of 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:49.359 being a mother, but also the hope that comes 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.960 with that and this picture of what it means to 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:54.130 be restored. And so it's interesting because 00:19:54.130 --> 00:19:56.569 not only is God pictured that way, but so is 00:19:56.569 --> 00:20:00.650 Israel or Zion. And so we get in Isaiah 66, this 00:20:00.650 --> 00:20:04.869 picture where Zion gives birth and she's nursing. 00:20:04.930 --> 00:20:07.470 And then God describes himself like a nursing 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:10.309 mother in the same passage. And then it's used 00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:13.849 with all this language of how everything is restored. 00:20:14.069 --> 00:20:15.970 So there's going to be peace like a river and 00:20:15.970 --> 00:20:18.470 there's going to be hope and the wealth of nations 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:21.410 and there's going to be comfort. And so it plays 00:20:21.410 --> 00:20:24.500 these two types. two forms of birthing, God, 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:27.880 who is the birthing mom, who brings restoration 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:31.319 and will not forget her children, but also Israel 00:20:31.319 --> 00:20:35.480 responds by also being a mom who is nursing and 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:37.839 nurturing. And so we can see that model of like 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.880 God and his people that then mirrors what it 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:44.220 is for us to be like people who respond. And 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:47.299 so this idea is not just about restoration within 00:20:47.299 --> 00:20:50.559 a family, but restoration within the world. So 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:53.940 when God makes these When God nurtures, it isn't 00:20:53.940 --> 00:20:57.299 only his children, but it has implications for 00:20:57.299 --> 00:20:59.700 the nations. It has implications for everybody. 00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:04.940 What do you want to call back? Your power, your 00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:08.339 patience, your desire, your joy, your hope, your 00:21:08.339 --> 00:21:11.460 fire. Sometimes it's just deciding to have more 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:14.400 fun again. Sometimes it's trusting your instincts. 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:17.299 Sometimes it's letting your rage be righteous. 00:21:18.269 --> 00:21:20.529 Other times it's getting in the car with no plan 00:21:20.529 --> 00:21:22.970 and turning up the music you loved before anyone 00:21:22.970 --> 00:21:26.849 called you mom. Sometimes it's rest. Sometimes 00:21:26.849 --> 00:21:30.630 it's prayer. Whatever it is, it's time to call 00:21:30.630 --> 00:21:39.349 it back. I talk with women all over the world 00:21:39.349 --> 00:21:42.349 every year, and they all share the same two feelings. 00:21:42.990 --> 00:21:45.670 First, they're exhausted from doing so much. 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:48.289 And second, They feel like there's so much more 00:21:48.289 --> 00:21:50.589 they should be doing. Boiled down, this means 00:21:50.589 --> 00:21:52.890 we are running around at the pace of chihuahuas 00:21:52.890 --> 00:21:56.609 on cocaine while simultaneously feeling fatigued, 00:21:56.690 --> 00:22:00.230 numb, and under -accomplished. Almost every woman 00:22:00.230 --> 00:22:02.950 I know has driven herself to the veritable ledge 00:22:02.950 --> 00:22:05.569 of what she is capable of handling, physically, 00:22:05.930 --> 00:22:09.920 emotionally, even spiritually. It's impossible 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.880 to overstate how exhausted everyone is, exhausted 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:15.779 by their marriage, their divorce, or dating life, 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:18.819 exhausted by their dream job, their hobby, their 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:22.119 day job, or their side hustle, exhausted by their 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:24.799 kids, the adoption process, or their fertility 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:28.140 journey. We are trapped in a cycle bigger than 00:22:28.140 --> 00:22:31.019 our circumstances. But just because exhaustion 00:22:31.019 --> 00:22:34.460 is so remarkably common doesn't mean we should 00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:37.859 settle for it. There are parts of Louisiana where 00:22:37.859 --> 00:22:39.980 major hurricanes roll through every few years, 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.920 often impacting the same low -lying parts of 00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:46.039 the city. Homes are destroyed from mold and water 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:48.140 damage, and people lose all their belongings 00:22:48.140 --> 00:22:51.599 and have to start over. It's horrific what these 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:55.599 families must endure. Frequently, These families 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.440 stay and choose to rebuild. But then a few years 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:01.039 later, another hurricane hits and destroys their 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:03.859 lives again. And watching this process and the 00:23:03.859 --> 00:23:06.220 emotional, financial, and physical toll, many 00:23:06.220 --> 00:23:10.220 of us would ask, why don't you just move? But 00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:12.940 most of them say they won't leave because it's 00:23:12.940 --> 00:23:16.539 the only home they know. Sometimes, exhaustion 00:23:16.539 --> 00:23:19.980 is the only home we know, the only way of being 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:23.029 that we know. We're so used to being battered 00:23:23.029 --> 00:23:25.150 by life's hurricanes that we don't realize there 00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:28.289 might be other options. Often, if we want to 00:23:28.289 --> 00:23:31.130 experience something different, we simply need 00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:34.269 a new strategy. A friend sent me a post by author 00:23:34.269 --> 00:23:36.869 Regina Thomasauer where she outlines two road 00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:40.069 trip scenarios. So imagine you're on a long road 00:23:40.069 --> 00:23:42.670 trip in a car by yourself. You're determined 00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:45.450 to get to your destination efficiently. You're 00:23:45.450 --> 00:23:47.569 hungry and have to pee, but you don't want to 00:23:47.569 --> 00:23:49.609 stop at a gas station because it will slow you 00:23:49.609 --> 00:23:52.809 down. You keep punishing yourself, pushing, ignoring 00:23:52.809 --> 00:23:55.470 your discomfort so you can cover more distance. 00:23:55.890 --> 00:23:58.289 You're convinced that you'll be able to enjoy 00:23:58.289 --> 00:24:00.750 yourself once you get there. That's option A. 00:24:01.769 --> 00:24:04.670 Here's option B. You're on a long road trip in 00:24:04.670 --> 00:24:07.160 a car with a couple of girlfriends. Each of you 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:09.539 has packed a basket of delicious goodies to snack 00:24:09.539 --> 00:24:11.519 on, and you're currently passing around some 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:14.500 chips and guacamole. You have interesting podcasts 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:17.720 and audible books to listen to, Whitney's blasting 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:19.880 on the radio, and some of you are singing along. 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:23.079 The destination is clear, and you're excited 00:24:23.079 --> 00:24:26.480 to arrive, but you're also open to taking in 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.019 some interesting sights along the way. You meet 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:31.200 the most interesting woman in the restroom at 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:33.599 one of the rest areas who told you about a special 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:36.900 waterfall that only locals know about. So you 00:24:36.900 --> 00:24:39.160 take a 15 -minute detour and put your feet in 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:42.619 the water, which feels amazing. Which trip would 00:24:42.619 --> 00:24:46.579 you rather be on? A or B? One more detail that 00:24:46.579 --> 00:24:49.619 might impact your choice. B gets to the destination 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:53.619 first. Know why? Since A was determined to make 00:24:53.619 --> 00:24:55.599 good time, she ignored the check engine light, 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:58.180 alerting her that the car was overheating and 00:24:58.180 --> 00:25:01.180 needed to stop for a break to cool down. She 00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:03.680 persisted and is now on the roadside waiting 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:06.960 for AAA to tow her to the nearest mechanic. This 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:10.200 illustrates two options, a life without pleasure 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:13.740 and one that includes pleasure. Don't settle 00:25:13.740 --> 00:25:16.640 for a numbed out life or miss life entirely because 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:18.940 you're so productive in your preparation for 00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:22.119 living. You are never meant to fade away. You 00:25:22.119 --> 00:25:25.279 are worthy of feeling good along the way. You 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:32.630 are meant to fly and find your way home. Lieutenant 00:25:32.630 --> 00:25:35.009 Colonel Marvin Willett -Gonin was one of the 00:25:35.009 --> 00:25:37.730 first U .S. soldiers to liberate a Nazi concentration 00:25:37.730 --> 00:25:41.210 camp. Documenting his experience in his journal, 00:25:41.309 --> 00:25:45.529 he wrote an astonishing entry dated May 23, 1945. 00:25:46.470 --> 00:25:49.849 This is what he writes. It took a little time 00:25:49.849 --> 00:25:52.670 to get used to seeing men, women, and children 00:25:52.670 --> 00:25:56.210 collapse as you walked by them. One had to get 00:25:56.210 --> 00:25:59.130 used to the idea early that individuals just 00:25:59.130 --> 00:26:02.039 didn't count. It was shortly after the British 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:04.779 Red Cross arrived, although it may have no connection, 00:26:05.059 --> 00:26:08.039 that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. 00:26:08.660 --> 00:26:11.859 This was not at all what we men wanted. We were 00:26:11.859 --> 00:26:14.259 screaming for hundreds and thousands of other 00:26:14.259 --> 00:26:16.140 things, and I don't know who asked for lipstick. 00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:18.839 I wished so much that I could discover who did 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:23.640 it. It was the action of a genius. Sheer, unadulterated 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:26.940 brilliance. I believe that nothing did more for 00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:30.190 those internees than the lipstick. Women lay 00:26:30.190 --> 00:26:33.869 in bed with no sheets, no nightie, but with scarlet 00:26:33.869 --> 00:26:37.490 red lips. You saw them wandering about with nothing 00:26:37.490 --> 00:26:40.210 but a blanket over their shoulders, but with 00:26:40.210 --> 00:26:44.789 scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post 00:26:44.789 --> 00:26:47.609 -mortem table, and clutched in her hand was a 00:26:47.609 --> 00:26:50.670 piece of lipstick. At least someone had done 00:26:50.670 --> 00:26:53.410 something to make them individuals again. They 00:26:53.410 --> 00:26:56.430 were someone, no longer merely a number tattooed 00:26:56.430 --> 00:26:58.730 on the arm. At least they could take an interest 00:26:58.730 --> 00:27:01.950 in their appearance. That lipstick started to 00:27:01.950 --> 00:27:06.470 give them back their humanity. It doesn't take 00:27:06.470 --> 00:27:09.049 much to help us reclaim our sense of aliveness, 00:27:09.170 --> 00:27:13.170 but it does take something. And so to close, 00:27:13.349 --> 00:27:19.089 let's talk about desire. Jesus asks a question 00:27:19.089 --> 00:27:22.250 that makes a lot of us uncomfortable. Seven times 00:27:22.250 --> 00:27:25.349 in the Bible, he asks a very specific question. 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:30.359 He asks, what do you want me to do for you? Wanting 00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:33.359 is a tricky thing, isn't it? Sometimes we're 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:36.319 afraid we'll want the wrong thing. Or we've become 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:39.799 convinced that wanting is bad or selfish or greedy. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.119 Maybe we're tired of desiring things only to 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.460 be disappointed repeatedly when they don't happen. 00:27:45.660 --> 00:27:48.720 Or our longings feel incongruent with the options 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.599 around us. So we learn to reduce our longings 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:55.289 to a more manageable size. Make dinner. Pay the 00:27:55.289 --> 00:27:59.309 bills, look at Instagram, and then do it again 00:27:59.309 --> 00:28:08.190 the next day. I have spent a lot of time ignoring 00:28:08.190 --> 00:28:11.250 my needs. This wasn't necessarily a conscious 00:28:11.250 --> 00:28:13.950 decision. Somewhere over the years, I picked 00:28:13.950 --> 00:28:16.029 up the message that it's better to be low maintenance. 00:28:16.759 --> 00:28:19.299 easy to have around, and have minimal expectations. 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:22.519 I wanted to be the person who met other people's 00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:25.680 needs but was so in control of my life that I 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.140 didn't need any help. But then I found myself 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:30.599 resenting the people around me for not intuitively 00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.779 knowing what I needed or wanted. And I learned 00:28:33.779 --> 00:28:36.460 that we can bury our wants, needs, and desires 00:28:36.460 --> 00:28:39.259 and pretend they aren't there. But they still 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:42.660 are. Simone Weil once said, the danger is not 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:44.660 lest the soul should doubt whether there is any 00:28:44.660 --> 00:28:47.890 bread. But less by a lie, it should persuade 00:28:47.890 --> 00:28:51.109 itself that it's not hungry. One thing that strikes 00:28:51.109 --> 00:28:53.769 me about Christianity is that it begins with 00:28:53.769 --> 00:28:57.250 an invitation to desire. It's a message for those 00:28:57.250 --> 00:29:00.529 of us who hunger and thirst. And nearly every 00:29:00.529 --> 00:29:03.069 interaction that Jesus had with people addresses 00:29:03.069 --> 00:29:06.430 their needs and longings. To the weary, he offered 00:29:06.430 --> 00:29:09.250 rest. To the lost, he speaks of finding your 00:29:09.250 --> 00:29:12.109 way. To the hungry, he provides nourishment to 00:29:12.109 --> 00:29:15.089 people who were outcast. He offers a family. 00:29:15.809 --> 00:29:19.869 Jesus takes longing seriously, but sometimes 00:29:19.869 --> 00:29:23.230 we don't. C .S. Lewis in his book, The Screwtape 00:29:23.230 --> 00:29:26.470 Letter, says the enemy's ploy is first to make 00:29:26.470 --> 00:29:28.910 humans flabby with small passions and desires, 00:29:29.250 --> 00:29:31.809 then offer a sop to those diminished passions 00:29:31.809 --> 00:29:34.509 so that their experience is one of contentment. 00:29:34.809 --> 00:29:38.630 They know nothing of great joy or sorrow. They 00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:42.200 are merely nice. In another writing, Lewis poignantly 00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:45.339 observes, we castrate the gelding and bid him 00:29:45.339 --> 00:29:48.400 be fruitful. Author John Eldridge builds on this 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:51.059 idea, adding, as a society, we are producing 00:29:51.059 --> 00:29:53.759 a generation of men and women whose greatest 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:57.140 virtue is that they don't offend anyone. Then 00:29:57.140 --> 00:29:59.339 we wonder why there's not more passion for Christ. 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:02.720 How can we hunger and thirst for Christ if we've 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:06.799 ceased hungering and thirsting altogether? Perhaps 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.799 it's time we raise our expectations and get passionate 00:30:09.799 --> 00:30:12.220 about taking hold of what God is offering us. 00:30:12.779 --> 00:30:20.559 In Proverbs 4 .23, we're told, Sometimes we interpret 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:23.200 this verse as a clarion call to protect ourselves 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:25.700 from contamination and letting our hearts be 00:30:25.700 --> 00:30:28.700 influenced by evil, which is essential. However, 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:32.480 when I think about not losing heart, I'm also 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.180 very aware of the fact that everything that makes 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:39.500 life worth living flows from the heart. As Eldridge 00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:42.099 puts it, to lose heart is to lose everything. 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:45.839 Intimacy, romance, love, adventure, meaning, 00:30:46.180 --> 00:30:50.539 purpose, courage, sacrifice, and joy. Nothing 00:30:50.539 --> 00:30:53.099 of human greatness is accomplished without heart. 00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:56.079 It's where desire stirs and fuels our creative 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:58.720 energy to write symphonies and climb mountains 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:02.809 or make babies. We need this wellspring of life 00:31:02.809 --> 00:31:05.930 within us to fully live and not merely get by. 00:31:10.890 --> 00:31:14.289 And so what all of this has been about is simply 00:31:14.289 --> 00:31:17.750 a reminder that it's time to come alive. You 00:31:17.750 --> 00:31:19.769 were never meant to do motherhood flawlessly. 00:31:20.490 --> 00:31:25.670 You were meant to do it fully. I know you want 00:31:25.670 --> 00:31:28.180 certainty. I know you want to get it right, but 00:31:28.180 --> 00:31:30.859 that's not how this works. Motherhood is not 00:31:30.859 --> 00:31:34.160 a math problem to solve. It's a wilderness to 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:38.180 move through. It's a long becoming. And so here's 00:31:38.180 --> 00:31:41.019 my benediction for you. May you grow comfortable 00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:44.079 with the mystery. May you sit beside your fears 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:47.119 and doubts with courage. May you trust that becoming 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:50.000 undone is sometimes the first step toward becoming 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.099 more whole. You're not failing. You are forming. 00:31:54.700 --> 00:31:57.039 And just when you think you've reached your limit, 00:31:57.079 --> 00:32:00.140 when the questions feel too heavy, when the ache 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:02.579 for who you were meets the love for who you're 00:32:02.579 --> 00:32:06.579 becoming, I want you to remember this. You walked 00:32:06.579 --> 00:32:09.539 through the first door. And you're still walking. 00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:13.359 You carry the bloodline. You are the backbone. 00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:16.339 And with every step you are not just surviving, 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:22.480 you are unfolding history. I know you want to 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:24.980 know, where do we go from here? But the answer 00:32:24.980 --> 00:32:29.299 isn't a place. It's a posture. The beauty is 00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:32.700 not in knowing, it's in living it. This experience 00:32:32.700 --> 00:32:35.500 of being a mom is something only the worldwide 00:32:35.500 --> 00:32:39.140 society of women will ever experience. And so 00:32:39.140 --> 00:32:41.640 we must stay close to one another and remind 00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:45.420 each other that yes, motherhood is hard, but 00:32:45.420 --> 00:32:49.440 it is also full of ecstatic joy, endless possibilities, 00:32:49.740 --> 00:33:31.119 and most of all, it is wildly. holy. This has 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:34.119 been Bloodline and Backbone, a production of 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:38.299 MomCo Media, created by Mandy Arrioto. It was 00:33:38.299 --> 00:33:41.920 written by Emma Turnbull and Mandy Arrioto, produced 00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:45.099 by Jeremiah Shoemaker. Special thanks to Dr. 00:33:45.259 --> 00:33:48.599 Beth Stoffel. Music composition and sound design 00:33:48.599 --> 00:33:51.720 by Sleepy Dog Creative. Our executive producer 00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:55.960 is Kelly Jo Smith. And our theme song is Glory 00:33:55.960 --> 00:34:01.009 by Zuri Alvarado. If this show has moved you, 00:34:01.130 --> 00:34:03.910 share it with someone who needs to hear it. And 00:34:03.910 --> 00:34:07.250 for feedback, you can reach out at media at themom 00:34:07.250 --> 00:34:10.110 .co. And from all of us here at The Mom Co., 00:34:10.110 --> 00:34:12.969 thank you so much for listening to Bloodline 00:34:12.969 --> 00:34:13.869 and Backbone.