Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Becoming Invisible


Busy people sometimes feel bereft of themselves; sliced and diced between people, roles and the duties of life.


Sensations of being squashed or pulled from pillar to post — that’s their lot. Their greatest enemy is the void-of-space.


They take their responsibilities seriously, perhaps too sincerely. But if they don’t, who will? Who will take over these great works that are their lives, foisted of critical accountabilities?


God Appreciates, Especially, the Diligent


Regardless of the desire, capacity or will to become invisible — even for a short time — there’s something within the diligent that pushes them on. It’s a thing beyond their self-sense. We know it as love.


Each weary and embattled step is joined with notice of resilience. How can we give up when we know we’ve still got a waft in the tank?


God appreciates the person going the extra mile, and then another, before a fourth is endured, for there are many who quit without guilt halfway through the second.


But, sooner or later fatigue is catching up with the diligent person, unless their diligence carries them off to the wisdom of self-sustainability in the sight of God’s will. Fatigue always has its say in matters of excess work.


Reducing Accessibility


Wisdom dictates we become sharp learners — not perfect by any means, but able to observe and conform to a new truth as it becomes known.


One of the gifts of wisdom, when it comes to dealing in this busy world, is having the restraint to reduce our accessibility; that is, to know when to become invisible. Even for minutes.


It involves skills of extraction as much as it does awareness — when to go.


Each one of us has to have our covert moments. Times beckon when we seek the shelter of the God of our friendly understanding.


This Presence of God can only be enjoyed in seclusion and silence, though a practiced silence in noisy places is possible, for we venture to the centre of the unsullied soul.


This is about withdrawing from the coveting of the world, because there are times when it’s only the world that insists on our being there, and there are others. Some of these times, the world couldn’t care less if we left briefly.


The Safety of Invisibility


Think about the necessity of escaping for moments or whole days and, occasionally, weeks.


It proffers so much for those who depend on us.


The safety of invisibility — becoming, for a time, undetectable — is the provision and revival of God.


© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

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