Today, I’ve written this for all the underdogs. For all the quiet souls doing the hard unnoticed things in life.
After so many months of covid-19 altering our lives, I finally attended my first bible study group in almost a year the other day. The topic was centered around what our purpose was in life, and while much of the conversation was good, I couldn’t help but leave the evening observing from the chatter exchanged, that there is alot of pressure on our shoulders to have things figured out, often accompanied with the burden that these plans should be substantially life changing or filled to the brim with purposeful ambitions. It almost felt like if we weren’t changing society, or finding a career that was in line with our passions, perhaps we had failed. But upon arriving home, a verse loudly shouted inside my head and I remembered God saying in the bible in Luke 16 “𝘞𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩.” This reminded me that yes, it is good to make purposeful intentional fruitful plans, but is 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 important to be faithful in where you have been planted currently. God looks for who can be trusted with the small things, before the big ones.
Society so often celebrates the grand achievements though. The home runs. The sold out seminars. The beautiful and prominent people. The charismatic individual who is able to charm and motivate thousands of people. Reaching the top of a mountain. Losing a large amount of weight in a short amount of time. Growing a business with large profits. Winning an award or placing first in a competition. While these are definitely good things, and I definitely don’t discourage people from the pursuit of excellence, my point is – very little has to be said for those of us who may be doing the unseen stuff. The quiet souls doing the dirty unglamourous things which don’t get praise.
To the mothers who feed their babies in the darkness of the night, while everyone gets to sleep. To the person packing up the chairs in church after everyone has gone home.
(2 of 2) To the cleaners who mop your toilet floors in the mall. The guard who faithfully checks everyone’s temperatures before you go inside a building these days. The parent who may work through the night driving a taxi to earn extra money to put food on the table. The garbage people who empty out our bins each day. The girl who chooses to hold her tongue in a fight at school instead of retaliating back.
These are often thankless roles. Done by people who often get unnoticed and forgotten. They’re not trendy, and are commonly not popular. No one talks about them, and even less about them is celebrated. Yet what I’ve noticed about these people is that they are very often faithful in the patch they’ve been in charge of watering. They are reminders to me that not everything needs to be loud or grand to be to filled with value and purpose. And that God looks at steadfastness, trustworthiness, dependability, and loyalty in the little more than glory in the huge.
Where has your current season put you? Even if you are called to just be a mother. Or a wife. Or a brother. Or a friend. Are you faithful even in these ‘small’ and ‘unseen’ roles?
We asked a question here on TTP at the end of 2019: ““𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰?” 8 months on from this, have you found yourself growing in this pursuit?
Today we just want to remind you that that sometimes not everything needs to be awe–inspiring to be considered valuable, and that if you are considered to be leading a ‘quiet’ life it does not make you a weak individual who has failed either. If you are faithfully pouring into the roles you are in right now, and doing that with an abiding heart, know that not only do we honor your quiet strength today, but that the God of the entire universe deeply deeply treasures these very qualities about you.
Loud does not equal strong, and quiet does not equal weak.
If you know of someone who this reminds you of, share this post with them in the hopes that today’s words can encourage them. Let us today thank them for their faithfulness.