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How Important Are You, Really?

Very few of us, when asked, would confess to believing we are the most important person in the world. The person, who above all others, deserves the time and attention of everyone else. Literally everyone else.

Rare also would be the person who would say they are even the most important person in their chosen field of focus. There can, mathematically, only be one #1 doctor, teacher, firefighter, etc.

But let’s narrow the field down a bit more. Would you say you are the most important person where you work? I don’t mean that the company couldn’t do what they do without you.

I’ll grant you that every part of every machine serves a purpose, but you should admit there are other people who could do your job. Every person in every company has a role to play, but to believe you cannot be replaced means you may want to re-read the first few paragraphs.

Also, I would suggest that if we think every part is equally important, understand the appendix has been removed from thousands of people who continue to live their lives, wondering what the appendix was ever doing in the first place.

This isn’t about discouraging you. I’m addressing how we think and how we see ourselves. Let’s tighten the circle a bit smaller, shall we?

Would you say you are the most important person in your friend group? How about your family? Unless you’re the Mom, you shouldn’t even have to think about this. But, with apologies to all the mothers out there, you shouldn’t narrow in on yourselves either.

So why do I spend all these words on a rating system that I believe we all lose in? Because of prayer.

One morning as I dragged myself before the throne room in Heaven, it occurred to me how many other people God had to focus on besides me. How many other, more important, people were also approaching God with their needs.

This caused me to do two things. First, I thanked Him for noticing me at all. I acknowledged my small place in the vast universe and I thanked the Creator of it all for even noticing me.

Secondly, I asked for help in doing the same. I’m in a season of life with a very busy schedule. Very little margin. To call it a season anymore seems absurd, because I can’t remember a time I would have referred to as a slow season.

I asked God to help me slow down from all the important things I do so I would notice the moments when someone else needs my attention. My focus. My encouragement or help.

The fact is those moments will be gifts. But not from me to others. Those moments are gifts from God to me. A reminder that others exist. A focus on where I fit in the grand scheme of things.

I am not the most important person, in any group of which I am a part. Not in any realm I exist in. Not by any stretch of any imagination.

And that’s a good thing.
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