A friend of mine was given this sweet poem for her birthday and I was touched, reminded, and empowered by the expression and recognition.  I share so you might be fed too.

Her sister in law wrote it...and family knows things about us, sees things in us (both good and bad) and can reflect truth to us like nobody else.  I happen to know Missi and while I don't know her sister law who penned these precious words, I can tell you that she speaks beautiful truth about a woman who is striving to be her very optimal version of "mom".   I share them (with gratitude and permission) to all the moms out there who have their own versions of this crazy life and who wear their own outfits that others see as supershero clothes.  

For Missi
by: Amena Brown Owen, amenabrown.com

My sister-in-law
Mixes soap magic, raises chickens, rubs five little backs
Doles out hugs and “yes” and “let mommy help you”
Married the love of her life
And they still flirt across rooms and play high school puppy love games with each other
To me, she is a shero
She shows me how dreams that need to be born
Crosses to bear
Laundry to fold
Can be done with joy and thankfulness
That words like ministry and company and organization
Do not just apply to Fortune 500s and 501c3s and cubicles in corporate America
She is the CEO of getting Burgess things done
And at least five times a day she preaches to a congregation

Each day she wakes up and chooses not to just live for herself
She combs hair, soothes tears, teaches lessons, establishes disciplines
And all of this before breakfast
She won’t quit
Won’t stop
Pouring the love out from her own heart
Even if she’s tired, hungry, 
In pain
Or momentarily feeling insane

I lean up against her kitchen island
Talking about quotes from Ann Voskamp and Grey’s Anatomy
In-between dissecting episodes 
She tells me
The way the scriptures break her open
What she is learning about love and sacrifice
How she is learning to wear and breathe the grace of God
How there are mommy and wife days that feel super successful
And mommy and wife days that don’t feel successful at all
But every day there are new mercies
New opportunities and gifts
And she recounts a thousand of them

I hope she notices her cape in the wind 
I hope she mistakes her leggings and flip flops for shero tights and boots
Not because she has to be a perfect superhero
But because she walks in the calling of a God who has all the superpowers
That she will notice his shine on her face
That she is better to me than Wonder Woman or Meredith Gray
I love her
And if she had her face on a lunchbox or a T-shirt 
I’d wear it
Anyday

I tend to think in images and in a recent coach call, I heard a powerful comparison to the act of shooting an arrow.  The further back we pull the arrow, the more power the arrow has to move toward it's destination. 

As I've traveled hours away from the laundry, the floors to sweep, the office hours, and the school lunches, I appreciate the imagery even more.  Spring break w/ a few of my kids; and while meals still happen, parenting a steadiness that I choose to engage in fully, the perspective is changed; I bring a different power to my "work".  

My hope is that you can also allow yourSelf to have moments where you "pull back" in order to bring more power, experience more Life, and go further toward becoming the person you are created to be.