In Case You Missed It…

Dealing with technology can be challenging. Just ask anyone who didn’t grow up with the privilege of having a pocket-sized computer with them at all times. I definitely don’t consider myself the most tech savvy. I know enough to be dangerous but in our technologically advanced society, most people do.

So starting this blog was a, “for real Jesus?” moment because I knew that I would constantly be dealing with what it takes to keep a website up and running. And it ain’t as easy as it looks.

So last month when my site got hacked, I had no idea what to do. I called my friend, Takia, who designed this site and thus is obviously WAY more tech knowledgeable than myself. To keep the hackers at bay the site needed to include additional security.

Once we got that squared away, we’re good, right? Nope. Something else broke. That something else was my ability to email out new blog posts to subscribers. We think that the additional security measures were what hindered that from happening. I’ll spare you all the down in the weeds details on why.

It’s been frustrating to say the least. It sucks when you work hard at something, dedicating time and energy to ensure it’s taken care of, and it falls short. Not because of anything you’ve done or did not do, but due to outside forces.

It really bothered me in this case because this is something I’m super passionate about. I’m up late hours and early mornings dedicated to this purpose God has given me. I had set a goal for myself to post 52 blogs this year. One each week. I’m working behind the scenes getting that done. But no one was seeing that because my posts for the last month weren’t being emailed out.

I learned yesterday that labor that is overlooked or unseen has a name – invisible work.

The term, invisible work, has long been used to describe women’s work in the household. It includes tasks that others take for granted or fail to understand. Some examples of the invisible work of mothers are:

Childcare – A mother is considered the default caregiver for her children and has to ask for time away from them

Emotional caregiving – Everything from helping family members discuss and regulate feelings to coordinating gifts and holiday plans that maintain friendships and family relationships

Household work – Also known as the “second shift”. The never-ending list of chores that need to happen in order to keep the house clean and orderly.

Every mother reading this knows this to be true. But unfortunately these days women aren’t the only ones who suffer from invisible work. This work has now translated into the workplace. You know, the work that you take home from your job to finish because of unrealistic deadlines or implied (or flat-out directly) expressed repercussions? That’s invisible work too. I see my husband deal with it on an almost daily basis.

Invisible work obviously causes stress and when we stop and think about it there are probably several areas of our lives where it’s prevalent. I mean being black is the ultimate invisible work, isn’t it?

While it’s beautiful in every sense of the word, there are people who hate you, are fearful of you or want to hurt you because of it. “People” include those who are sworn to protect and serve you. So just surviving becomes invisible work.

But then I realized that God sees.

What’s invisible to man is 20/20 vision to him.

He sees you mom, working a full-time job and holding down the house and kids.

He sees you husband, doing everything it takes to provide for your family.

He sees you with that beautiful black skin he’s created and those that abuse you because of it.

He sees all.

Nothing is invisible to Him. No act goes unseen by Him. And isn’t that all we really need in the end? To know that we are loved and seen by the creator of the universe?

So even if He’s the only one that reads every blog the rest of the year, He sees the effort and will honor it. My job is to show up with an attitude of gratitude for the opportunity. So keep pushing ya’ll. He’s watching.

And in case you missed it, here are my last few blog posts…