For all my friends who are Moms.. I thought of You

The Invisible Mother
by: Unknown Author

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 andask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm onthe 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 noone can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Canyou tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm noteven a human being. I'm a Clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satelliteguide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' I was certain thatthese were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied historyand the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they have disappearedinto the peanut butter, never to be seen again..She's going; she's going;she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of afriend from England... Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on andon about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not tocompare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, whenJanice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I broughtyou 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 herinscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what youare 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 couldpattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have norecord of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never seefinished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of Godsaw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who cameto visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workmancarving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carvingthat bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' Iclosed 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'vebaked, 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 willbecome.' At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is nota disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my ownself-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the rightperspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people whoshow up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on somethingthat their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as tosay that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there areso 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'sbringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in themorning 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. Andthen, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're goingto love it there.' As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannotbe seen if we're doing it right.And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only atwhat we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women. Hope this encourages you when the going gets tough as it sometimes does.