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Writer's pictureEkanem

Obscurity and Faith

At this point, it is worth asking whether the predicament of obscurity is of any benefit, particularly as women with a historical convention of being seen and not always heard. And even in some societies today that is still the case. Why are women keen to be seen and heard in this day and age and why isn't it fashionable to just be silent. Everyone wants to be seen even when they have nothing to say - ouch! Thanks to social media we can. Ouch again!


"To everything there is a time and season" - there is nothing like the truth of the word to douse a situation!


Like the season of carrying a baby to full term and birthing it, everything living under the sun has a similar rhythm. A seed is buried and hidden for a time while it germinates in obscurity to reveal something beautiful in due course. If we misinterpret or misunderstand these seasons of our lives we may not withstand the pressure as we face new landscapes or climates. In which case, there will be times when you shouldn't be concerned with being seen or heard and they will be times when you must even if it makes you uncomfortable, not unprepared just uncomfortable.


Consequently, it should be innate for us to find obscurity problematic after a time. Its the reason the feminist movement eventually happened, its the reason for every human rights movement you can think of in history, its the reason for a variety of voluntary organizations taking flight across the globe springing up to help people each with their own unique need. The aim being to give them a voice so they can be heard and seen. But without that period of obscurity how do we really come to know who we are and why we want what it is we want?


And so we will always have a problem with obscurity because it often does not allow us to be seen by others as we truly are. It does not allow us to be known for the very thing and reason for which we were born into the world.

We may as well have remained silent in the cocoon of God's thoughts and imaginations.


One of the greatest things we can achieve while we lay in obscurity is to get a firm understanding of who we are! It seems like a very simple thing but its one of the hardest things we can do because it requires us to "keep seeking" out the one who created us and to seek in whatever season we may find ourselves, good or bad. It is only as we begin to truly understood ourselves we can begin to lay the right foundations for our lives purpose.


Its funny how we indulge in what the world calls "soul searching" when we hit rock bottom or we come to really difficult crossroads in our lives or approach a certain age. Its a moment were we contemplate all of who we have been, all of who we want to be and all of who we could be. There are few things that may bring you to this point and one of them is when you find yourself laden with a burden - by burden I mean something that weighs heavily on your heart and nothing in your present allows you see how that situation can shift or change for the better. Some people may call these, crucible moments, were you exist in high pressure situations with hardly anyway out. These moments cause us to look within for answers. Can you recall such moments in your life and the choices you were led to make?


Another symptom of these seasons of obscurity is when you observe someone else in a crucible moment and you are hard pressed to aid or support them in fact you may consider yourself the least qualified to do so but you continue to carry the burden, you are continuous and persistent in thought concerning them, you are passionate about their course. Can you recall such moments and what you did to make their voice heard?

In these two every simple examples, we can see the basic commandments of God exemplified. Love God and your neighbor. The burden in your heart for your crucible moment is put there by your maker and its different for everyone, else we would all have the same crucible moments which we don't. In loving others, we identify with their pain, it becomes our own. None of these adventures are possible without the basic commandment to love. Because as we love we begin to search out truth, we begin to search ourselves and others. We begin to lay foundations and make very important decisions.


Lets take the story of Solomon in the bible. When God asked Solomon what He wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom, to rule over His people. Solomon could not have asked for that if he didn't have a heart burdened with the need to know God's people and rule over them well. And I believe God put that burden there because before Solomon knew he would be King, God did. God had told David his father that Solomon would rule over his people and build the temple that David would not build because of his sins. So Solomon carried a burden long before he realized but when he got to his crucible moment, he saw the need, he searched himself and asked for help and from God's answer he began to build. He built the temple, he built God's people and nations. His completed building started with a burden.


Use those crucible moments to search yourself .Instead of simply seeking the attention of others it might be more beneficial to seek to understand them. A lot of the changes that will happen to you in this time may not be immediately tangible but every step taken is a step of faith.


Every step is a brick of faith unique to our journey. It is for you and it is with you. If you take a deliberate look at the big steps of faith you have taken and even the little ones you will see a tapestry that connects them all. That tapestry is simply your emerging authenticity. That tapestry is an indication of the building you have been called to.

Do you see it? And more importantly can you hold it up?


Lets talk about that in my final episode "Emerging authenticity".


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