Overlooked

Does anyone have any guesses as to what kind of flower this is? It’s possible you’ve never seen it before, unless you were sitting on the ground looking carefully. It’s difficult to see from a standing position…it’s tiny! I have no idea what kind of flower it is, I’m simply amazed by it. Isn’t it beautiful?

Now look behind it at that bluish spot. It’s an even smaller, shorter flower!

Each of these flowers was created with a purpose. Neither is a rhododendron blossom or even a dandelion, but each is blooming and doing what God created it to do. I’m pretty sure they don’t envy the larger flowers, and if they did, what good would it do? Perhaps they look down pridefully on smaller blooms, thinking themselves big and important? Probably not!

I know we don’t normally have time to sit out in the lawn and look for surprises. But most of us are surrounded by people in some sphere of our lives (or maybe all of them!), and whether we are well aware of it or not, we all struggle with the pride of life. When we look inward, we think ourselves either too big and important or too little and insignificant. When we look outward, we judge others to be more or less significant than us, based on what we see in them.

James tells the church, “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism” (James 2:1). He goes on to write about not giving preference to the rich and thereby judging others. Now, obviously James was talking about those with monetary wealth, because he mentions gold rings and fine clothes. But we can certainly expand that idea of wealth to other areas of life. We may be rich in talent, beauty, intelligence, poise, speech, craftsmanship, hospitality, accomplishments…the list is endless! Any one of those areas can make us feel more or less than the person standing right beside us. Not only may we feel overlooked, we may also overlook others. But is our intrinsic worth found in any of these arenas?

God tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”  (Jeremiah 1:5), and David says to God, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Each of us is a wonderful creation, designed by a Creator. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”  (Ephesians 2:10). Not only can we stand tall in knowing that He has a purpose and plan for our lives, but we can relax and look for His wonderful design in the people He surrounds us with. We don’t have to compete for significance, we are all significant because each one of us is uniquely designed!

So…take a deep breath, stand up straight, open your eyes, and look around you. There is value to be found everywhere, if you’re only willing to take the time to discover it!