bring your mess

a little more about our mantra

#BRINGYOURMESS

What began as a simple hashtag I used to try and convey the sort of community God had burdened me to begin back in fall of 2016, has turned into our Agape Moms mantra, a simple saying that has given many mamas the courage to come for the first time. To come out from behind theirs screens, from the pseudo-connection of their social media worlds, from the sudden loneliness that cripples many moms transitioning from working to mom-ing, and having to have some serious identity checks. “Does my worth come from what I do? What about when no one sees what I do, and the amount of butts I wipe and messes I clean, Every. Single. Day?” Things get messy real fast in the mom world, and it’s easy to hide behind our Instagram reels of happy moments, that are likely sandwiched between messy moments before and after the perfect snap.

When I tried to capture this cute pic of me and my kids in our new shirts for Agape Moms, that say “bring your mess” and “I’m the mess” for the kids, I wanted there to be some “mess” visible, so I opened my minivan for you to see the Cheerios, baseball bats and other random things thrown around. But, I couldn’t have planned the sudden crying, fighting and need for a bandaid, followed by a sit-down-won’t-take-a-picture-strike any better! Oh and I think that’s sweat or baby drool on my shirt, not sure which, but perfect placement! This is real life motherhood.

Beyond the comedy and relatability of #bringyourmess is our shared desperate need for Jesus as our only fix to both the surfacey messes, like Cheerio infested minivans and spit up in our unshowered hair, as well as our messes of the soul. We all carry things, maybe it’s deep hurts from our childhood, mistakes we’ve made, or wrongs that have been done to us- our sin, others sin- and the mess it makes, especially when it collides with motherhood. You can bring that giant mess to Agape Moms, we all do, and you will be met with open arms. We don’t put on churchy faces or try to shame you into try-harder religion, and we won’t pretend we are perfect either, but we will keep pointing you to Jesus, His word and the power of His spirit to live as moms who are rescued and empowered by Jesus.

Christ is the only remedy there is for the messes we have. When Jesus is our only savior, and we let go of our savior-complex, of trying to fix it all on our own, then we can finally be real about the messes we carry, and we can bring it before others too.

We were not created to mom-alone, God designed us for Biblical community. Agape Moms welcomes moms of all ages and stages to “bring your mess.” Whether that’s the mess inside the minivan or the messes that run a little deeper in our hearts, we want you to bring the real you. Bring you mess, but we promise not to leave you in it, or glorify it, but instead we point each other back to Jesus in the trenches of motherhood.