What It Means To Be Made Frank

As I head towards a year of blogging, I realized I haven’t clearly shared what it means to be Made Frank. If you haven’t navigated to the about page, you’ll miss the story. Today I wanted to take the time to introduce some background and the mission of this space. I’m so excited to grow this year and bring more content that is valuable to your real life.

In C.S. Lewis’s, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there is a poignant scene where a young boy named Eustace, has discovered the treasury of a dragon. The story portrays him as selfish, greedy, and completely unlikeable. And so he falls asleep on his new treasure with dreams of “greedy, dragonish thoughts,” and awakens to discover he is no longer a boy, but a dragon. The very picture of his inner-workings.

The agony is compounded by the gold bracelet he put on as a boy, that now is excruciatingly tight. Devastation and despair settle in. He is now cut off, isolated and alone…too big to regain passage on the boat he came on. He begins to “weep large, hot dragon tears.” But then. Then he encounters Aslan.

Then the lion said – but I don’t know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

I want to expose my life in all of it’s messes and glory, in hopes it causes others to laugh, cry, share and grow.

And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off?

I want this to be a community that joins the conversation about what womanhood looks like in a society of perfect instagram accounts, and to do lists taller than we are.  I want the layers to fall away.  To expose the tender skin under our hard scales.  And man, can it be painful.  This exfoliation of our life.  But from my experience, the pain pales in comparison to what shines underneath.

Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off – just as I thought I’d done it myself the other three times, only they hadn’t hurt – and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I, as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me – I didn’t like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no skin on – and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I’d turned into a boy again.

I’m not looking to tear down.  I want to be candid, vulnerable, sometimes raw.  But not just for the sake or shock of it.  I desperately want to give hope, to show the grace of God, to lift others up.  And I feel like I might have some practical tips, help and fun to offer as we move along this path together.

To be Made Frank is to be exposed. It’s removing the scales one by one, layer by layer until what is left is the soft core.  Genuine and beautiful.

So that is the story behind this space. And here is my mission.

Made Frank was born out of weariness.

I was weary from long, busy days, from never ending to-do lists, and from scrolling through Instagram feeds of perfect, beautiful lives. From my own struggles and from countless conversations with other women,  I recognized three things:

• The need for honest dialogue about this struggle.

  For vulnerability that’s risky and raw, and definitely not always pretty. For this reason, I write about what it means to be a woman. I write and share inspiration for how to navigate our complex paths.

• The need for grace.

  Even though I love implementing systems and routines to make my life “better,” I know that I still fail. I am still imperfect. So I write about faith–about learning to receive grace and about learning how to give grace to others.

• The desire to make useful stuff.

  For something even more than just rigid practicality. I’m going to write about systems for organizing life, household management, budgeting, food and making our lives and homes more beautiful. I want to share the stuff that works for me and smart women I trust, in hopes that it will help you create more beauty and time for rest in your own life. Also. I like things to look cool.

  Made Frank’s mission is to be an online community for women who desire authentic voices, hope for their weary souls, and help making useful stuff.

That’s what it means to be Made Frank. And as I move forward, I’m ready to dive in deeper. To put on my teaching hat and share more resources and real help for your real life. Hope you are excited too!

Want to know more about me?  Here you go…meet Paige.

And if you are looking for a beautiful way to plan everything from your daily life to meal planning, download our beautiful calendar below.