It’s 10:45 p.m. For the first time since I “put my face on” this morning, I stood staring back at myself in the mirror. I poked at my eyes and forehead. “How much you’ve changed,” I thought as I noticed new lines and grooves in my face.

It’s funny, because earlier in the evening, I sat at my parent’s kitchen island, looking at magnets that hung on their refrigerator. Our daughter’s birth announcement stood out to me. “Wow!” I remarked to my mother who was admiring them with me. “That feels like forever ago.” It was only six years ago when our daughter entered our lives, but I feel like I’ve only ever known life with children. She’s grown and been shaped into a beautiful child with her spiral curls, chocolate eyes, and light brown skin.

And yet, there I was, admiring myself for the first time in a long time, the very same night. However, I didn’t feel so beautiful. Oh, how much motherhood has shaped me, literally. 

My face is a little rounder. My eyes sag a little more, and the circles come and go, depending on how many kiddos slept in our bed last night. My eyebrows are a little less shaped and the wrinkles in my forehead seem a little deeper.

These are all things I could stand back and stare at with disgust. But I’m not. Not today at least. Rather I reach for my facial cream and apply it haphazardly to the areas that need it most, place the cap back on, and meet my middle little in the hallway. He’s woken from sleep and needs a snuggle.

I wrap him in my arms and whisk him away back to bed. Sure, motherhood has shaped me physically, but it’s also sharpened me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Standing a little bigger than I once was, I also stand a little more graceful. I stand with a little more self-control, ease, and a go-with-the-flow attitude while I’m far less worried about a perfect home, pleasing everyone outside our home, and my appearance. I’m stronger now, and I love the woman God is shaping me into using these little, beautiful people who I am so privileged to raise.

If you stand with me, embrace the roundness, the wrinkles, the bushy eyebrows, and untrimmed hair. You are so beautiful in the eyes of your babies and God, and this is worth remembering: You’re someone’s beautiful, so be someone’s beautiful today.