Not Weak, Just Recovering: A Mother’s Day Reflection

Not Weak, Just Recovering

A Mother’s Day Reflection

I recently saw a stand-up clip where a comedian joked that men could never endure childbirth—because they haven’t spent their lives training for discomfort the way women have.

It made me laugh… and then it made me think.

When I was younger, I really wrestled with my femininity. I didn’t relate to the girls around me, and I couldn’t reconcile their version of femininity with mine. To my shame, I used to think they were weak—frilly, fragile, silly. I equated “feminine” with “lesser.”

But now, as a grown woman who has birthed two children, I know better.

I see now how wrong I was—how much strength there is in womanhood. It reminds me of how God says He uses the “weak things of the world to shame the strong.” For millennia, women have been viewed as the weaker sex. But I gotta say… women do some of the most courageous, grueling, resilient things on this planet.

And I’m not saying men are weak. I believe men and women are designed differently—our bodies, brains, and wiring—each designed with unique strengths that equip us for the distinct contributions we bring to the world. But let’s be clear: there is nothing weak about being a woman.

Lately, I’ve found myself wrestling with my own fragility.
Life has felt like I’m in a holding pattern, ready to sprint—but constantly slowed by the weight of responsibility. Having kids amplified that feeling. But so has simply being a woman.

My hormones are shifting. My brain fog is real. The amount of time and intention it takes to care for my body—and the bodies of those in my care—is staggering.

And sometimes, those old distortions creep back in. I look at my husband, who seems to bounce back with half the sleep, half the sustenance, and half the stress… and I feel jealous. I feel… weak.

But I don’t want to view it that way anymore.
Because it’s not weakness—it’s the cost of strength.

The truth is: I’ve poured myself out—again and again—for my husband, my children, my clients, my little village. And that takes strength. Immense strength.

It reminds me of Jesus—how His greatest act of strength on the cross looked like weakness to the world, but was actually the most powerful act of love and sacrifice in history.

Isn’t that motherhood, too?
Pouring yourself out in ways the world may never fully see or understand… but God does.

So, ladies, of course we need recovery. Of course we need rest. That doesn’t make us weak. That makes us like athletes between games. The recovery is part of the work. 

So, to my fellow moms and women this Mother’s Day:

• It is not weak to feel tired.
• It is not weak to forget what you were saying mid-sentence.
• It is not weak to need rest, margin, or gentleness.

It is evidence of your strength.

You are strong.
So strong, it takes time to recover from the force of your own giving.

Happy Mother’s Day, warriors. Rest well—you’ve earned it.