Our Softer Side

I have a pretty sensitive heart. Too sensitive, sometimes. I get my feelings hurt easily if I feel someone has made fun of me or criticized me.  But, since I am so sensitive, I think I can read people pretty well and I have noticed a trend in moms that bothers me.

There are a lot of confident (or so it seems) mothers out there. They take charge of things, volunteer to help, and seem to be pretty vocal about their feelings on varied subjects.  But I’ve noticed that this type of a mom doesn’t seem to be very sensitive to other moms who may be very different from her.  She doesn’t seem to have compassion for a mom who is new or ignorant on how to handle a certain issue.  I guess you could say she runs over others – without really intending to.

I’m not sure if some of us moms get so confident that we just forget what it feels like to be an outsider or “different” from others; if we are just so comfortable in our social circle that we don’t notice to look for others who may be shrinking a little, or if we are truly insecure and so we are bolder, and louder in an attempt to try and cover our own insecurities.  Whatever it is, it does indeed bother me.

I can hold my own pretty well with all walks and types of women. Even if my feelings get hurt, I usually can hide it until I’m in the sanctuary of a safe place.  But I observe a lot by not having a real “bold” personality. 

I just want to caution us as mothers to try and tap into the gentle and sensitive side of our hearts that God put in us. Even as mothers, we can be so quick to ostracize, wound, alienate, or prick another woman’s heart – sometimes we fail to even see it! Maybe it’s just a careless comment about not knowing how to cook, or a thoughtless moment of asking a few friends to get together in the presence of another… it can be so wounding to the mom on the other end of the action.

We can learn so much from each other. Older moms can teach us so much, moms who are “different” from us in personality, ethnicity, or certain ideals – can be a true breath of fresh air if we will only give them a chance to be themselves and learn new things from what they can offer our lives.

We are”womanhood.” A team. We all have something in common – we fight, we feel, we love, we fear.  Let’s try to remember our “softer side” and be extending to those who are different than us.