Love as Resistance

Welcome to Grace and Space, a weekly newsletter from the Deconstructing Mamas Podcast! GRACE for who you have been, are now and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be!

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This week on Deconstructing Mamas, we sat down with our friend Dr. Glenn Siepert — author, artist, and host of The What If Project.

If you've been with us from the early days of this little space, you know Glenn always brings a mix of tenderness, truth-telling, and grounded wisdom.

And this conversation? It felt like sitting around a kitchen table together, letting the coffee grow cold because the conversation kept getting deeper.

We talked about what it feels like when faith unravels… again.

We talked about the loud voice inside — the one full of outrage, certainty, and fear — and the quieter voice underneath that we so often ignore.

We talked about how easy it is to leave one form of fundamentalism only to rebuild it in a new direction without even realizing it.

And we talked about love.

Not the soft version.

Not the polite version.

But the kind that stretches us.

The kind that remembers that EVERY person — even the one whose beliefs feel harmful or triggering — is more than their politics, more than their theology, more than the label we’re tempted to slap on them.

Love as resistance.

Not because we’re supposed to bypass harm.Not because we don’t need boundaries.Not because “everybody just needs to get along.”

But because if we never do the inner work, if we never get curious about our own reactions and fears, we end up recreating the same energy we tried so hard to leave behind.

This is slow work.

Messy work.

Holy work.

One moment that stayed with us: Glenn talking about his neighbor with the Trump flags. Instead of seeing him as only his political identity, Glenn imagines him as someone who was once eight years old with dreams and fears and a story full of things no one else can see.

And something softens.

For those of us with families who hold wildly different beliefs — politically, spiritually, culturally — this lands in a tender spot. If we can hold the humanity of our own family, maybe we can practice holding it for each other, too.

We’re not doing this perfectly. We’re stumbling, questioning, unlearning, and trying again. But we believe there is another way — a way rooted in curiosity, courage, and the kind of love that doesn’t demand agreement to stay present.

Next week is our final episode of this season — and the final episode of Deconstructing Mamas as you’ve known it. We’re not tying things up in a bow, but we are wrapping it in a way that feels honest and true.

We can’t wait to share it with you.

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One last thing. We want to remind you that we are so glad you are here. We wouldn't be the same without you. You will always find GRACE for where you've been and who you are now, and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be.

Carry on, our new-found friends. Welcome to the twisty-windy, full -of-adventure faith path that's laid out before us all.

Love,

Lizz & Esther