by Cari Jackson and Katey Zeh Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Inspired by: How shall we sing God's song in a strange land? (Psalm 137:4) How do we honor Mothers in this pandemicWhen many Mothers are dying without their loved ones nearAnd Others are grieving dying children they cannot touch?How do we sing God's song in this Read More
motherhood
When in Doubt, Be Yourself
“Excuse me, *you* are the board chair? Of this national organization?” Back in October of 2015 I was elected to lead the Board of Directors for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. At 32 years old I didn't expect to take on this level of leadership quite so early in life. Frankly I was stunned. Turns out I wasn’t the only one Read More
Should I Have a Kid?
“Did you always know that you wanted to be a parent?” A few weeks ago while recording an episode for our podcast Kindreds, my co-host asked. We talked at length but in short, the answer was, no. When I was young and single, the idea of having a kid was something that seemed like an eventual, yet distant given for my life. But when the question Read More
Relaxation as a Spiritual Discipline
I have a productivity obsession. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an addiction, though in describing to a friend how euphoric it feels to check off a bunch of to-dos, he said, “You kind of sound like a junkie.” He may be right. Up until a year ago I didn’t think I had a problem. When I heard experts talk about self-care and meditation and “me” Read More
Is Breast Best or Beast?
August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week with a focus on supporting women who are working and breastfeeding. Learn more at worldbreastfeedingweek.org. Like many aspects of motherhood, breastfeeding is simultaneously put on a pedestal and devalued. On the one hand breastfeeding proponents, more fondly known as "lactivists," can get quite Read More
The Heavy Lift of Marriage
"I cannot work up here!" I cried to my husband. We were standing in what I refer to as our dumping ground: the bonus room which simultaneously serves as a workshop, a workout room, a recording studio, and a holder of rarely used household items. It was about to become my office, too. We'd just reconfigured our home to make room for the nursery, Read More
Embracing the Truth about My Pregnancy
This post originally appeared on The Good Mother Project. I am a truth teller. Secrets generally aren’t my thing. But when I got pregnant, suddenly I was keeping a lot of them. Pregnancy was hard on me. No, I didn’t have debilitating nausea most of the time or require bed rest like some endure. I did have sharp rib pain and carpal tunnel. But Read More
Welcoming the Cries of a Child
Have you seen this picture? It's been shared over and over again on my Facebook mama groups after going viral on Imgur a week ago. I'm sure there are critics out there, but all of the comments I've seen are full of praise for this professor who comforted a student's crying baby as he continued to lecture. He's been called a "baby whisperer" and Read More
Turning Guilt into Compassion: My Story of No Maternity Leave
The day after my two-week postpartum check-up I went back to work. This was an especially difficult thing to accept because I’m an advocate for health. For maternal health, to be precise. And yet there I was in a sleep-deprived daze, still bleeding from the birth while I sat on a conference call focused on achieving better health outcomes for Read More