Last night at small group our discussion focused on the fear of not mattering. On the surface we all thought "I'm somebody"..."I matter". But as we explored this more, we discovered that we all feel we fall some kind of short. We go to great lengths to prove to ourselves and to others that we aren't invisible. We do our hair, we wear makeup, we iron our clothes (which are often name-brand, or at least the now-style)...all to assure ourselves that we exist, and exist beautifully. I shared with the group that one thing I am notoriously guilty of is not saying hello when I enter the elevator at work. Do you do that? It's quite silly actually. Just walk in and say "hello" with a smile. So NOT a big deal. A couple of times I tried it and the person didn't respond. Perhaps more of a social barrier than a language barrier? What? Do I have cooties or something? In any case it caused me to change my approach. It made me feel insignificant, invisible...and when we feel like that, we tend to not go there again, on purpose. Sometimes I wait too long. Perhaps you're guilty of that. Walk in, miss the moment of saying hello and it being polite, and then try to give the delayed reaction "hello" 10 seconds later. Awkward. DON'T try that on your own. Point is, we have ways of making other people feel insignificant and we don't even realize it. I challenged the group to spend time this week evaluating their interactions with people. Everyone from the stranger to your soul mate. Do you inadvertently do things that make him/her feel insignificant? Invisible? Dispensible? In God's eyes, we are none of these. God wants us to make sure we don't make others feel like they are ANY of these.