Maddi Gillel
In her story, “The Invisible Woman”, Nicole Johnson likens the mother’s role to that of the builders of the great cathedrals. She reminds us that those builders made great sacrifices to build a cathedral ‘they would never see finished.’ Though their individual efforts were ‘invisible’ to the world, their actions were ‘fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.’ She likened this to a mother’s essentially invisible work with her children. She wrote that her own invisibility sometimes felt like an ‘affliction,’ but she wisely observed that this was the ‘cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness.’ Nicole Johnson concluded: ‘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.”
There is a brief sketch of this book performed online by the author, Nicole Johnson, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YUOaNAHXPO
This book has been so reassuring, comforting and validating to me. I have often observed, in this confusing world, that true depth of our character doesn’t come from fame, riches, and power, but from essentially, unnoticed, quiet acts of everyday life through service and sacrifice for others.
I hope we can encourage the girls and women in our lives to be the above kind of woman – with the above kind of life and try to ignore what the world says we should be and do.