A couple of years ago, I went shopping with my daughter-in-law and my sweet little granddaughters. I had so much fun following the girls around the store looking at the things they were interested in. These are the same little girls with a massive fingernail polish collection, so part of our time was spent looking at the little girls' "make-up" section. I distinctly remember a discussion about lip gloss made in China and sold in packages of 15 or so....my advice was "just say no."
Anyway.
When we went to lunch later, some of the wind went out of my sails. I felt like somewhere between TJ Maxx and Olive Garden, I had put on Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. The waiter at the restaurant made no eye contact with me and no questions were directed at me. I felt totally left out and as if my opinion didn't matter.
And I didn't like it. I have a feeling as I age, I will experience this more often.
I kind of sound like a 2 year old, don't I?
There is something about us that craves attention.
Affirmation.
Significance.
We want to know we matter and are important.
From my experience, I don't think it matters how old we are either. We need to feel like we MATTER.
Flash Forward to the present: I am going to admit something to you all. I am embarrassed because I should know better, but here I go.
Some situations have occurred in my life in the past few weeks that had left me feeling unvalued and unimportant. After grumbling about it in my head for several days and letting it rob me of some of my joy, I finally opened up about it to my sweet husband. Talking about it with him helped me to realize that this issue...just like all of them...goes back to my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
My personal significance MUST NOT come from the fickle reactions of any PERSON, who is also trying to work out his own emotional "junk" and may be doing it at my expense.
I came across this comment from Anne on the BooMama blog that was about a completely different topic, but it was just what I needed to hear.
First: know who you are in Christ. Ephesians 1 (from Believing God): Blessed, Chosen, Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed, Forgiven. Knowing who God says you are is crucial. Second: Feelings are temporary. Always go with what you know to be true. About God, yourself, others, situations, etc. What is true will surpass what you feel, every time. And sometimes you have to act on truth, when it’s the opposite of your feelings.
Now that is some good stuff, don't you agree?
My significance...and yours too...has to come from the ONE whose opinion really matters. We are NOT invisible to HIM.
