Feeling Important at Target

As I walked through the frozen food section of my local Target store last week, I felt very important.  In order to save energy, the freezer lights are off when no one is around.  When someone walks up to or by a freezer, the lights come on.

I had no business in the freezer section.  I was merely walking from one end of the store to another by way of the row of freezers.  However, the freezer lights do not discriminate, and each light turned on as I walked by.  I noticed this, and – though I know it seems odd – I felt important.

Sometimes I feel a bit ignored.

I do not think that I suffer from feeling ignored, but I feel it nonetheless. I have noticed that life’s patterns put us into a course of rhythm, and sometimes those patterns change and we do not like the new rhythms.  For example, when my children were young, I was the center of their universe.  Now they (rightfully so) feel as though others their age or even (the horror!) other adults should have some of their time.

Sometimes I feel unseen.

We have all been there (I think anyway).  The crowded room with people we hardly know or even people we do know.  We look around and see everyone talking to everyone else.  And we wonder, “Where do I fit in?”  Breaking into an already existing conversation can be hard.  I would rather run away.  Sometimes someone pulls us into the conversation, but often we have to be the ones to reach out.  This is hard.

Sometimes I just feel unimportant.

All of these are feelings. They might not even be reality.  In fact, what I feel as others ignoring me could just as easily be seen by them as me ignoring them.

At times like this, I need to remember truth.

I am not the center of everyone else’s universe, and rightly so.  But – God sees me and care about me as an individual.

I may not have something to say that others want to hear, but God is willing to hear anything I have to say and hopes that I would listen in return.

I am not all that important.  But I am.

In other words, God could do anything He desires without me. At the same time, I am part of His plan to impact the lives of others.  When I do not feel important, I need to look to Him to find my importance.

And that is where the rubber hits the road for me.  When I think I need to feel important usually is exactly when I should be remembering that I am not but that God is.  I need to see my importance as coming from what He desires to do through me rather than what I can do because I’m just that great.

What do you think about this?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section.