Women are cultivators.
No matter the occupation or lack there of, no matter the political leaning or preferences, no matter the background or bent, women are a wonder of ability and influence.
What we touch and till can improve. What we set our hearts and hands to can be made finer because of our focused involvement. What we invite into our hearts, homes, and attentions can be made better simply because they are under our umbrellas.
Women have this unique ability to sway the condition of the world. We have this innate inner prowess that keenly impacts those in our spheres.
Mothers in particular, have this wild opportunity to make it or break it for those they do life with.
This is both frightening, and fantastic.
It’s like some of those famous athletes, rappers, superstars. Some of them say that they never asked to be an influence. They say that they simply wanted to play a game, lay down words to a beat…. so people shouldn’t really expect them to set an upright example.
But like it not, that kind of clout comes with the territory.
Same with women, with mothers. It’s there. And we decide what we do with it.
The word cultivate means….. to develop land for growing.
It means to create the correct atmosphere for thriving.
It means the we have the potential to serve something or someone into harvest.
This morning, after the bustle of breakfast and backpacks and lunch boxes – the youngest and I got to work on bringing some order back to this small rent house we love. As I scrubbed the small indentions of the mini muffin pan, and swept up all manner of things from tiles, and flung wet laundry into the dryer, and replaced beeswax votives, and wrote words here with you – I couldn’t help but feel this special kind of gratification that I was the one setting the tonality of our home. I was the one making this space a place that inspires rest, growth, wonderment, and creativity.
That influence doesn’t stop at the walls of our abodes. It goes out onto the sidewalks, to the skyscrapers, to the world over.
Recognizing the weight we pull as women, understanding that we have the dexterity to do some numbers on our aching earth – this is the message for today.
I could write a post giving just as much acclaim and esteem to the men and fathers of our world. But for our Monday here, I felt compelled to call out, name, and remember the immense impact we women have on our planet….our words, our actions, our doing, our dreaming….
May we make the most of them.
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A few people and places that inspire me to cultivate well:
Sally Clarkson – books, blogs, podcasts
