Hidden accompaniment!

Every violinist while performing solo would prefer to have an accompaniment on the piano. 

At a recent funcion, the pianist was hidden to our sight in the auditorium unless you went to the side of the auditorium. It was the violinist's position that hid the pianist. What made the violinist make his electric violin come alive was the accompaniment in the piano. Yet he masked the pianist from visibility, probably unintentionally. 

In human resource practice, mentoring or accompanying or coaching has acquired significance in the recent years because most people would need a trained person for unfolding of their skills. The task of the mentor is to enlarge and equip the person seeking to be mentored. The mentor is a significant person, but the one mentored is the fruit of that mentoring. When that happens, the mentor fades into the background having fulfilled his or her mission. 

A mentor is a hidden person in the life one who is mentored. But is that the role we end up with, when we have been involved in the lives of some people to help them blossom!

There is struggle I have faced within myself sometimes of feeling not valued by others whom I reached out to support. 

John the Baptist, who referred to himself as the forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth, referring to his role when Jesus began His public mission after John baptised Jesus was, 'He must increase and I must decrease'! What a statement of profound reality! 

The pianist remained hidden while helping the violinist to perform!

Those of us in the helping profession, look for recognition, validation and approval. But if helping others is our mission, that in itself is good enough reason to do what we do. To remain hidden is not easy or generally comfortable to most of us. 

To remain hidden would also mean the possibility of being forgotten. 

Even in the midst of that really,  the 'music' we witness performed by those, whom we were able to be part of, at some time or other ought to be the true source of our fulfilment. 

Whether hidden or forgotten, the significance of our calling to be enablers, ought to inspire us to continue caring for others. I have reflected on  this recently. The natural tendency is to withdraw when others forget us. If they have outgrown the need for us, it is a sure sign that we did enable that person to grow into his or her full stature. Is that not a joyful state to be in!

To choose to remain hidden is a vocation in itself. When that can happen, we too have moved on to live freely of the burden of expectations we carry in our lives!

The metaphor of Jesus of Nazareth about human lives is, 'you are the salt of the earth ..You are the light of the world'

The invisibly of the salt while making food tasteful and the visibility of the light showing the way, are two experiences we too would encounter in different seasons in our lives. 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)