Showing off the inside today....

Most generally, I do not show off the inside of my kitchen cabinets, but since I am in cleaning and reorganizing mode, I don't mind showing the end result of that effort. In fact, Hubs thinks I've totally flipped to be taking pictures of my cupboards and drawers. I suppose it only makes sense to us homemakers who rarely have our work seen and appreciated by others. I'm not trying to gather accolades for keeping my home in order, but you know how it is. You do the laundry, fold it, and put it into the proper family members' drawers; or perhaps you're like me and put the piles on the beds for THEM to put away. Who sees the stacks of clean socks and underwear in those drawers or the freshly laundered and pressed shirts hanging behind the closet doors? Who sees the loaded pantry where you've expertly stacked canned goods and rotated the older cans to the front and the new ones to the back? Who sees the clean silverware drawer where all the forks and knives line up in their proper places? Never mind the other drawer that has the spatulas, rolling pin, potato masher and all the others -- it never has been very neat, but all the sticks & stirrers are there....somewhere.

It's this way at your house too, I'm sure. Every day you do little things that make a big difference to your family, but they aren't always visible. You might even grow weary of doing them again and again. But know this: Someone is watching. Someone does appreciate the fact that you constantly take good care of your husband and children and your home. You serve them invisibly but faithfully. This reminds me of a little book I read some time ago called The Invisible Woman by Nicole Johnson. In this book I learned of "invisible people" who carved beautiful statues that were hidden behind walls in cathedrals. Some of these medieval artists walled up their best work because "they believed God himself saw it, and they left it for God's eyes only." Their work has only been found in this last century and no one even knows the artists names.

I feel invisible sometimes too and I know that the daily work I do goes unnoticed more often than not, but I keep on doing it and so do you. Consider this a little Pat On The Back just for you! I can't see your drawers and closets and I didn't watch you scrub the toilet or vacuum under the bed, or rock a sick child to sleep, but I know you did it, and God does too.

The next time you decide to clean a drawer, go ahead and line it with pretty oilcloth. And when you decide to clean and organize your kitchen cabinets put some pretty napkins on the shelves of your cupboards with the glass doors. Make a few pretty hangers to hang up your pressed shirts and fancy underthings. Life is short and you might as well make the hidden corners of your home beautiful and cheerful, even if it's only you and God and a very few others who happen to notice.

Amighty God, who sees every sparrow, continue to teach me life's great lessons from the world's great cathedrals. Make me more invisible. Strengthen my heart to do the things that no one sees or appreciates, and to do them as unto You. Help me make personal sacrifices with no trumpet and no credit to myself. Let me be more invisible in you, so that real love may be more clearly visible. Let me allow humility to cloak my love at every opportunity. And if history never knows my name, may I have helped it know yours a little better. Allow me to be invisible, that the world might see you -- the living God who sees and loves all invisible women. Amen.
~Nicole Johnson