God Sees the Unseen
It’s been a week of doing the work that often goes unnoticed. I’m no stranger to this work—I’m a mom. I quickly learned in the early years of becoming a mom that there are so many things we do as mothers that just aren’t recognized. But mothering isn’t the only thing that asks us to do the unseen things. There are many people who are doing the good work and feel unappreciated or unnoticed. For some of us this is hard. We want credit! We want to be told we are doing a good job. I think in many ways social media has increased this need within us. Desiring recognition (and the importance we feel with it) has likely been around since the beginning (think Cain and Able). But now there is a global platform that is begging us to show ourselves in a whole new way.
We are living in a time when not much isn’t seen, or available to be seen. Quiet moments are documented for the world. Our child’s first steps are viewed by friends and strangers. Our inner thoughts have become monologues to the world. As a slow adopter of social media I struggle with what to share and what to hold sacred to myself. This opportunity to be seen on a bigger than ever scale has left some of us feeling unimportant if we aren’t seen in the way the world tells us we should be.
I was doing some of the unseen work in my life yesterday and I felt proud of what I was doing. It was a job I had asked my husband to do, but then decided I would do it instead. Partly because I wanted the job done quicker than he was prepared to do it, and partly because I thought he would be happy I had done it and taken something off his plate. I felt good about the work I was doing, though it was small and insignificant to most. But just as quickly as I felt satisfaction for doing the work, I also felt the urge to get credit. And that was when I heard God’s nudge—I see everything.
I shared a few weeks back that I am hearing the words small and slow being repeated in my life. They are challenging me to walk at a speed and distance that is countercultural. I’m not very good at it. Sometimes I feel like I should be doing more. To further my career. To prove to the world that I’m working hard. To prove to myself that I have words that are valuable. As I continue on this journey with slow and small I find myself taking comfort in the whispered words of yesterday. God sees everything. God sees the unseen things that we do in our day. He sees that many diapers that have been changed. He sees the chores that you can’t seem to keep up with. He sees the endless piles of laundry. He sees the kindness you show a stranger. He sees your heart’s desire. He sees the broken spirit.
Knowing this, that God sees the unseen gives me courage to remember I’m not meant to be seen by everyone. I’m meant to be seen by the one who counts. When my head starts to tell me that I’m not important enough or I’m not getting enough credit I lean on the one who sees me and loves me all the time.
It’s a hard world sometimes and we can easily get swept up in assuming our value is linked to the money we make, the followers we have, the accolades we can show to others. It is in these moments that I remind myself that I only need to be seen by him.
