Archive for May, 2009

Invisible Mothers

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 – 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.’

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. I was feeling pretty
pathetic, wh en 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 y ou
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. Great Job, MOM!