Feeling Insignificant

Written by cycleguy on December 5th, 2010

“Tis the season…to buy…to feel left out…to feel unworthy…to feel lowdown…to feel guilty…to overreact…to feel insignificant.  Sad isn’t it that a season in which we are to told to feel jolly…to feel joy…to feel peace…to feel a sense of worth…to help someone out…is the season we often feel the least important?

In his book Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Chuck Swindoll wrote a poignant and thought-provoking devotion.  I used it this Sunday in my sermon and wanted to share it with you:

If you were an evening newscaster in the year 1809, your eyes would have been drawn to the battlefields of Austria and the diminutive dictator of France, Napoleon.  He was showing his superiority as he made his way across the country, taking one hamlet after another.  If that had been you as the newscaster and you never acknowledged what was taking place in England and America, you would have missed out on some significant births.

  • William Gladstone was born in Liverpool.
  • Alfred Tennyson began his life in Lincolnshire.
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes cried out in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  • Edgar Alan Poe, started his brief and tragic life.
  • A physician named Darwin and his wife called their infant son Charles Robert.
  • Robert Charles Winthrop wore his first diapers.
  • A rugged log cabin in Hardin County, KY was filled with infant screams of a newborn boy named Abraham Lincoln.

All that and more happened in 1809…but who cared?  All eyes were on the battlefields of Austria.   Ironically, unless you ask a history buff, not too many can tell you much else about Napoleon and Trafalgar and Waterloo.  (Devotion abridged by me for space)

That struck home to me as I studied.  As is often true…that which seems insignificant (the births of the other babies) takes a backseat to that which appears to be significant.  But then something or someone comes along and knocks the other off its pedestal and we are left with seeing that which is really important.  Take, for example, how we often feel.  Our culture worships celebrity.  It worships material success.  I read recently that a poll of young people reveals that 40% would rather be a personal assistant to a celebrity than the CEO of a major corporation, the president of an Ivy League school, or a U.S Senator (okay so they have a point there)  🙂  To be honest, neither of those holds a glimmer in my eye.  But the point is well-taken and is sobering for we who call ourselves Christ-followers: we can get caught up in this focus on celebrity and material success as well.   If you don’t think I am right,  go back and check out the first paragraph again and then ask yourself if you either feel that way or have felt that way during the Christmas season.   I have, and I am bound and determined that neither I, nor the ones I love, nor the ones I come in contact with, have to fight those feelings.   Above everyone else, the Savior we choose to worship in this season and for all seasons showed us that NO ONE is insignificant.  I repeat:  NO ONE IS INSIGNIFICANT!!

Do you ever get to feeling insignificant, especially during the Christmas season?  How do you fight it?  What have you done to avoid allowing yourself and others to be sucked into the vortex of helplessness and comparison that threatens joy?  I would like to hear your thoughts on this if you care to share them.

 

18 Comments so far ↓

  1. jeff says:

    I don’t think I have ever experienced all of the negative personal feelings you have associated with the Christmas Season. I just think most of the traditions and hustle and bustle to be a real hassle. I have just skipped the whole thing for many many years. It’s just a couple extra days off at the end of the year. Nothing more. No dead trees in my house, no decorating and undecorating jobs. No buying of presents. Thanksgiving is the family holiday for me. You might try it. It works for me.

    • cycleguy says:

      Jeff: sometimes your approach seems to be the best. However, with children and a grandchild I enjoy the season. I just need to keep the proper perspective. Thanks for your input.

  2. I wrote a whole 4 paragraph answer and erased it out of shame. I will simply say that the holidays are without a doubt the hardest time of the year for me and I look forward to January 3 when things are normal again.

    • cycleguy says:

      Julie: wish you hadn’t erased whatever you wrote out of shame. as you know from your own blog, there are tons of people (and sometimes only one) who can benefit from someone else’s thoughts. But I forgive you. 😛 i spoke yesterday in my sermon about how the holidays are hard times for many people because of bad events, bad memories, lost loved ones, etc. praying for you and normalcy. Thanks for commenting.

  3. Jason says:

    I struggle with feeling insignificant all the time and not just at the holiday season! Christmas time doesn’t help, though. It’ll be a little easier this year since my kids will be here for Christmas.

    • cycleguy says:

      Jason: commented on your blog that if you need, I will get your back. You are definitely not alone with the feelings though. Glad your kids will be with you. thanks for taking the time to comment.

  4. Tami Grandi says:

    It is way too easy- in the busyness of the season, in seeing what you don’t have in the midst of what everyone else has, etc to get caught up in that. I’m going to work really hard this year to NOT be caught up in that- and know- beyond the shadow of a doubt- that I matter to God- as it says in Zephaniah- He delights in ME! 🙂 Love you!

    BTW- what are you trying to do- make cry again?

  5. Jim F. says:

    For me it comes in ebbs and flows like waves coming ashore. It is not normally the holidays but comparing at other times – seeing what some get for Pastor Appreciation and knowing what I get. In that you can see for me it is the comparison thing and with that I always come up on the losing end in my own mind.

    I fight it by reminding myself that no matter what I am important to Him. I remind myself that if I were the only person on Earth – Christ would have died for me. I remind myself that significance is more than things but it is making a difference in life.

    Hope I did not ramble….

    • cycleguy says:

      Yeah Jim that comparison game is tough one. That Pastor Appreciation Month that comes and goes can be a tough one also. But I need to keep in mind that it is not what others think but what HE thinks that makes a difference. Couldn’t agree more with your last sentence. And no, you didn’t ramble. 🙂 Thanks for the comment.

  6. *~Michelle~* says:

    Wait?! There is a Pastor Appreciation Month? When?

    I try to keep reminding myself that how I am living and the things I am doing are not for me (or the recognition of others)…..but for Him. He is who makes me feel significant….He knows the real me, and loves me regardless. 😉

    Great post! 🙂

    • cycleguy says:

      Yeah Michelle. Focus on the Family designated October as PAM. Some observe it and some don’t. 🙂 But your comment is right on. He is the one who gives significance.

  7. jeff harris says:

    I too have (4) children and (4) grandchildren. They have there own ways of dealing with the holidays and have no problem understanding my non-herd mentality. I think they appreciate 1 less person to worry about at this time of year. We enjoy the other 364 days in meaningful ways.

    • cycleguy says:

      You got me beat!! LOL Sometimes it does get too big that’s for sure. I must admit that I talk about both Thanksgiving and Christmas as being more more than one day a year but it should be 24/7/365. That is possible with the right attitude and approach. Thanks for another perspective.

  8. God has redeemed my holidays for me and for that I am grateful. Feeling unimportant is a struggle from time to time but then I remember that I am loved by Father God…that blows me away!

  9. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    For sure it is a timeless truth that no one is insignificant who is a Jesus Christ-follower.

    (In the coming years there may be christ-followers of many different stripes other than ‘Jesus the Christ’.
    Matthew 24: 23-25)
    It is a timeless truth that all people are invaluable, however, for some wicked people God reserves his judgment at this time becasue he knows that they are in and out of here(the earth)like a wiff of bad wind. In other words they stink. He has some future plans and events prepared for them.

    I think we can see that if we had fame, riches, and importance in this world we would also have pride. The Bible says that God resists the proud. Pride is the greatest sin of man toward God, and pride stops us from receiving what God provides to us in our humbleness and gratefulness.

    Yes, I have fought those feelings of unworthiness, being alone, not being acknowledged, but not by God. I’ve always known that I have value in God.

    I have managed by God’s grace to deal effectively with some of those feelings and to find a way out of them. I think its been a slow deliverance by God in my life over 30+ years. I spent about 15 years of my life living with debilitating depression.

    God is our deliverer!! Through a series of events from year 2000 God gave me strength and ability to fight and overcome.

    Isn’t that what the Spirit says to the churches in Revelation? To him who overcomes I will give the crown of life?

    Through my God I can do all things that strengthen me. Phil 4:13