The Messy Middle: When Your Shame Becomes Your Redemption with Mary Marantz
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“She kept going until she looked good on paper, but it never made her feel more real.”
-Mary Marantz
How human is it to want something, try and fit the bill, and then finally fit the bill and feel like you’re suffocating? Mary Marantz and I talk all about this on the podcast this week. She grew up in a single-wide trailer, then went on to go to Yale Law School. She recently shared her story in her book Dirt that just came out this month. It’s a story that reminds you that you never really know a person.
Dirty Beginnings
She shares how looking back on such small beginnings, it’s easy to romanticize it in hindsight or from the outside looking in. But when you’re in it, it’s anything but.
God said to her, “This is muddy and it’s hard and it’s not what you wished for and you wished you had someone else’s story, but I’m not done writing.”
When she was little, the thing she wanted the most was a real house with a real roof. She imagined a blueprint of a home trying to redraw itself to be perfect.
“She kept going until she looked good on paper, but it never made her feel more real.”
Chasing the Shiny Fairytale
A large part of her always wanted to go to law school, but sometimes we chase things so grand like law school just to feel like we’ve redeemed our small beginnings.
At the start, she was hoping to go to a more local law school, but in a movie-like scenario, her friend submitted her application to Yale and she got in.
Later on, she decided to start a photography business with her husband (she met him online, y’all!!!) They took big risks in business— she never wants to live a life that is safe.
Carrying Your Past + Honoring Your Dirt
“Is it something heavy you’re carrying? Is it a burden? Or is it some precious thing you’re carrying carefully?... For me, it’s the second one.”
“I would no more try to run away from the dust in my life that represents the creation of God than I would try to run away from the mud in my story that represents the genesis of my story.”
Look at your dirt and see the power of where you come from instead of the shame.
“There’s no amount of running where you can outrun you.”
Resources
Keep up with Mary at MaryMarantz.com and on IG at @marymarantz.
If you want to hear more of Mary’s story, you can buy her new book, Dirt, at thebookdirt.com/refined (plus you’ll get some fun goodies!)
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