Dents

I was recently watching Cars 2 with my children and while it isn't unusual for me to be moved by Disney movies, this one surprised me.   Mater, a rusty old tow truck, is with some secret agents who are trying to put him in disguise.  To do so, they want to fix his dents but he says no.  He defends his dents because he got them while with his best friend and he doesn't want to erase those memories.  By the end of the movie, one of those secret agent cars leaves her dent in too because Mater helped her appreciate its value.  

During this movie I was holding my five-week old baby.  While she is perfection itself, what she and my other children have done to my body is not.  Looking in the mirror recently has been painful because all I see is how I am 15 pounds overweight with a very flabby belly covered in stretch marks.  Getting dressed is depressing since none of my clothes fit well.  I hardly have time to exercise, shave my legs, do my nails or do my hair, for that matter, with the demands of three small children who barely give me enough privacy and time to shower.  Is the price of motherhood beauty because how is a woman in such a state supposed to feel very good about herself?  

Then Mater told me to appreciate my dents.  I’d had a friend tell me after my first was born much of the same thing but I’m grateful Mater reminded me.  This good friend told me that my body was a gift from God to be used for his purposes.  Bringing children into the world is one of the most sacred responsibilities given to women and is an opportunity to participate with God in giving life.  While we all need to eat right and exercise and take care of our bodies, we also need to be comfortable with the dents left behind from having children.  

Some of my dents may erase over time and lots of effort (hopefully the 15 lbs!) but my stretched out skin is never going to be the same as it was before I gave birth to three beautiful children.   While it can be hard to feel attractive and beautiful with my dents I am trying to be okay with them because having dents is a pretty good trade for the privilege of giving three people life.  I may not have time to do anything other than a ponytail and I may not be wearing stylish clothes (who wants nice clothes to get spit up on?) and I may not even look very good in the clothes I have, but I am a mother and that is a beautiful thing, dents and all.