Before the first pair of beasts marched into the ark, before the first raindrop
of the new climate fell from the sky, Noah hammered and chopped and built for
months, for years without a drop of rain.
He labored for an indeterminate time on what looked to all the world
like a pointless project.
Before Moses challenged a monarch
and freed a nation of slaves, he spent 40 years in the back country of Midian,
studying under a shepherd priest but doing nothing publicly remarkable.
Before the day of shouting and
tumbling down walls, the armies of Israel marched around the walls of Jericho
for 6 days, saying nothing.
Before Nehemiah rallied a broken
community to climb out of the rubble of their ancestors’ defeat and rebuild
their own destiny, he spent days quietly observing and learning.
The last words of the Old
Testament prophesy the coming of John the Baptist. The 4 centuries between that pronouncement
and John’s birth at beginning of the New Testament timeline is called “The
Silent Years” and usually represented by a completely blank page.
Jesus’ entire adolescence is
omitted from the Scriptures. We know He
learned. We know He studied. We know He travelled and experienced. But we don’t exactly know what. Those are the “silent years.”
There are no overnight
successes.
The greatness you suddenly notice in the daylight is the result of many months and years you didn’t hear about and weren’t invited to see. The unheralded hours of preparation. The hours of training that weren’t posted. The grind on mute.
The greatness you suddenly notice in the daylight is the result of many months and years you didn’t hear about and weren’t invited to see. The unheralded hours of preparation. The hours of training that weren’t posted. The grind on mute.
So take measure of your public
life and compare it to your private prep.
Be sure that you do as much or more off-camera as you do in the public
eye. Resist the temptation to show it
all all the time. That is the pattern of
greatness. As the urban philosopher Lil’
Wayne said, “Real G’s move in silence, like lasagna.”
--Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for
education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is
pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME
Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word
to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves
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1117 23rd Avenue
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
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