Mamas*Little*Treasures: You are just not that important!

Remember Eeyore from the "Winnie-the-Pooh" books? If the sun was shining, Eeyore was quite convinced that it was going to rain any second, especially right where he was standing . . . . and sulking. If Piglet was planning a party, Eeyore was certain that everyone was going to be invited except him, even as his party invitation was drifting silently into the bog where he had simply missed seeing it. And when Tigger was jumping for joy because Pooh had found the Hunny Pot, Eeyore was mumbling something about being sure that there wouldn't be enough hunny for him to have any. No matter what was going on around Eeyore, he seemd to believe that it was all about leaving him out. In his world, he thought that everyone was determined to make his life miserable. The sun was always shining somewhere else, but never on Eeyore!

Sometimes we get bogged down in that kind of thinking, too. It is easy to interpret the actions of other people as somehow being a statement about our worth or value as a human being. But let me tell you a secret: you are just not that important! What I mean by that, is to say that usually people around us are caught up in their own momentary concerns. When someone walks by me and doesn't seem to notice me, even if it is someone that I know quite well, I try to remind myself that there is probably something going on in his or her life that is occupying their thoughts at the moment. And that their behavior has absolutely nothing to do with me. This can happen in our online relationships, too. If someone sends you a message that seems rather abrupt, maybe it is because they have a lot of other stuff going on in life, and their reaction isn't about you at all.

Now that is not to excuse rude behavior! It is simply to say that your value is not dependent on the reactions of other people. If you understand that everyone around you, and even everyone you encounter in cyberspace, has so much going on around them, then you can put it all in perspective. And then when you encounter those few people in the world who are genuinely unkind, you will be able to tell the difference. Just remember . . . . you are truly a treasure, your worth is beyond compare, and your value is unmeasureable - in the eyes of God and in reality. Just because in the rough and tumble world of interpersonal communication that message isn't always spoken loud and clear does not mean it is not true - try to look beyond what is right in front of you, into the heart of the person you are talking to, and remember that their words and actions are usually not about you at all. You just aren't that important . . . . in that particular situation!