How Important Am I?
Finding meaning in a time of self-isolation
Doctors, nurses, governors, and mayors—important people must keep working. They have skills, knowledge, and job responsibilities that protect us. It is clear that they need to remain in their positions.
But what about the rest of us? Many of us also provide valuable services and care for people. But how “essential” are we? And if we aren’t essential right now, were we ever essential? Will we be essential again?
Have you wondered, as I have, “Do I matter?”
What if I stay home, stop doing what I have been doing, and the world discovers I am not needed? What if my customers, my clients, my constituents, decide they can get along just fine without my services?
I have become convinced that the single most important thing I can do for those around me right now is to limit my movements, but it’s still hard to feel like there’s nothing I can do.
Psalm 139:14 says: “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
We matter because God created us. The focus is on what He has done, not what we do.
Who we are, what we were created by God to be, and how we live out our unique calling in the world matters. We are important to God, and He has placed us in the world. Without ever doing a single thing, we have value. We are created in His image, He loves us, and Christ died for us before we ever did anything.
So, because I am perfectly loved by Him, I can love the people I know—my students, my co-laborers, my friends. And I can love the people I don’t know. I can love them by staying home. And I will seek creative ways to love them tangibly, too. There are things I can do, and, with God’s help, I will do what He calls me to do.
Most of all, though, I will lean into God. I will lean on Him for my meaning and my direction. I will run to Him for comfort, strength, and courage.
I invite you to join me—from your home, of course!