When Wounds Need Fixing, Call on the Moms

While I have been on maternity leave over the last several months, it seems the world has lost its collective mind. Everywhere I turn, there is violence, whether in word or in action. This election cycle is vitriolic and vile. Terror attacks continue to claim hundreds upon thousands of lives. Refugees continue to flood across seas, risking and losing their lives. Black lives and blue lives continue to collide, leaving everyone bruised and broken. Sure, there’s the Olympics, but even that is marred by scandal and discord, despite their best efforts at highlighting human interest stories.

Here at home, though, I have this new little life filled with every potential. We are learning about one another, he and I. He is learning to sleep, and smile, and coo. I am learning to let go of expectations and just let him be. It strikes me as I watch him sleep, that in all this conflict about which lives matter, the one thing in common is that they are all someone’s babies.

Mamas, somewhere, at some time, some mama birthed these babies whose lives are being taken. When will it stop? We have an enormous strength as mothers, as women. When it comes to protecting our babies, our love is fierce. I have felt it in me, and I have seen it in others. Where is that fierce love speaking up for these babies? These mamas, wives, children?

Think of the possibilities that exist if we mothers everywhere came together to say enough is enough. What if we reached across the color lines, the party lines, the faith lines – what if we erased those lines and came together as one strong strand of women who have had enough? We are tired of mourning our babies. We are tired of seeing one another as enemies. We are tired of fear ruling the day instead of love. We are tired of the lines that divide and desperately seeking the ties that bind.

[Tweet "Do we have the strength as mothers to put aside history and create a new world for our children?"]

Can we do this? I am not so naïve as to think there will be a simple answer. The causes of our discontent and conflicts are long and winding. I just have to wonder though, if we have the strength as a nation of mothers to put aside that history and begin anew. Do we have the fortitude to say we will create a new world for our children? I don’t have the answers, but in my head I have this image of a fierce army of mamas linking arms and marching through our streets taking them back for our babies, claiming them for God and His purposes instead of bloodshed and brutality.

I have no idea where to begin, other than to reach out and begin conversations. There is nowhere else to start than with myself and opening myself up to be vulnerable and uncomfortable, asking questions and seeking answers that may challenge me. Maybe we can’t link arms and march down our streets, but we can extend our hands and hearts to one another to wipe away the tears and embrace one another in love and a desire to understand each other’s struggles. Will you join me?

How might we be a source of reconciliation and unity in our communities?