Worth the time to read

I know this is longer than my "normal" entry - but I think it is worth the time to read! Thanks, Cheryl, for passing this my way!




I'm invisible.......
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of
response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room
while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.
Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"

Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or
sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner,
because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix
this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of
hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time
is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney
Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Pick me up right around 5:30,
please."
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and
the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum
laude -- but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter,
never to be seen again.
She's going ... she's going ... she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the
return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a
fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she
stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all
put together so well.
It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked
down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find
that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip
and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was
feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a
beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't
exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To
Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are
building when no one sees."
In the days ahead I would read -- no, devour -- the book. And I
would discover what would become for me, four life-changing
truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the
great cathedrals-- we have no record of their names. These builders
gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They
made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of
their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw
everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to
visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman
carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the
man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a
beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it."
And the workman replied, "Because God sees."
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It
was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte.
I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around
you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on,
no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile
over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now
what it will become."
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not
a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease
of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong,
stubborn pride.
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great
builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never
see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could
ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people
willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the
friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up
at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she
hand-bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table."
That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I
just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to
say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen
if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the
world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the
beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible
women.