Anonymous
Do you ever feel hidden like life is passing you by? Do you feel like your gifts and talents are not being used to their greatest potential? Do you possibly feel like you are anonymous and overlooked?
If you've ever struggled with these thoughts and feelings, you're not alone. I sat on an airplane a week ago with my four-year-old son snoring next to me and just a solo reading light illuminating the darkness on the book I began to read. My mind couldn't rest on the long plane ride across the country, so I decided to crack open a new book called "Anonymous" by Alicia Britt Chole. It was a small book. Maybe only 200 pages at the most. It didn't look too intimidating, so I didn't think it would be that difficult to read. But, as I read the first few pages I realized it would probably become one of the most difficult books for my soul to read. Within the pages of this small book, the author took me to a place that I had not anticipated, a place where I had to become brutally honest with my unhealthy craving for attention and the cavernous depths of insecurity within my heart. It rocked me.
The book dives into the unpopular topic of the hidden years of Jesus' life on this earth, the first 29 years of his life that were never really explained or written about in the Bible. The author unravels the mystery of Jesus "readiness" at age 30 to begin his public ministry that would not only change the country of Israel, but change the rest of history and how his hidden years were the foundation of his readiness to fulfill his great purpose on this earth.
Chole says, "Our tendency is to only hide things that are shameful or incomplete or insignificant. So when we see the gaps in Jesus' story we are apt to think, Too bad. I would have liked to know more. But I am glad that the biblical writers documented the most important moments of Jesus' life.
Now, certainly all that is recorded in the Scriptures about Jesus' life on earth is eternally essential and valuable. But does it then follow that the unrecorded is unessential or of lesser value? Because we naturally grant more weight to the visible than the invisible, it is easy for us to underestimate the vital importance of the three undocumented decades preceding Jesus' three celebrated years of public ministry.
However, with his life (and with ours), it is critical that we not mistake unseen for unimportant."
Do you feel like the hidden years of your life are not important? I sure do. I look at the times of growth, pain, development and healing as a blur of gray in my life where I don't really see anything shiny or spectacular with gold medals, accolades or "success" stamped all over it. But, those gray times took me deeper into the depths of my soul, mind and heart to discover my truer self and the God who designed me.
So, if you don't have anything great or super exciting to post on social media, if you don't have a pretty new outfit or car, and if you don't feel like you've accomplished anything today---remember, it's okay. Whether it's a pile of laundry, dirty diapers, file cabinets or a hospital bed that feel like the walls keeping you hidden and not allowing the world to see your great potential, God sees it and nothing you do is hidden from His eyes. He looks at your heart and your character. You may not see it on the outside of your life, but deep within God is working in your heart and will show you the beautiful purpose He has for you today and tomorrow.
