Came across this beautiful
article, written by a 'mother' 😊, in the 'Times of India', on the occasion of Mothers' Day:
She
who builds cathedrals
Nicole Johnson, May
6, 2011,
12.00am IST
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 the invisible Mom.
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, 'Right
around 5:30, please.' Some days
i'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock? Where's my phone?, What's
for dinner?'
I was
certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that
studied history, music and literature. But now, they had disappeared
into the pickle jar, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, and
she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having
dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England who'd just gotten back from a fabulous
trip. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she 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 sure why she'd given it to me until i read her inscription: '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: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals; we
have no record of their names; 2) These builders gave their whole lives
for a work they would never see finished; 3) They made great sacrifices
and expected no credit and 4) The passion of their building was fuelled
by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
I read
the story of a visitor who 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. 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, no
last minute errand 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'.
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 mothers.
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