If this is your first viewing on this series, let me encourage you to read the other posts to understand this project…

Truth #3: No single person can express what we mean to the rest of the world

When we combine social media with man’s quest for significance and meaning, it is clear the potential train wreck ‘likes’ and ‘loves’ and ‘hugs’ could bring. There are SO many people looking to be fully known, fully understood and fully loved. It is easy to see how we can feel ‘less than’ someone who has more friends and more likes than us. But the true travesty is the myth that our value can be defined by this. In appreciating people, I quickly realized that I didn’t have the capacity to fully appreciate every single one in the way I knew they were valued by others. I couldn’t possibly know them all that fully.

As I was scrolling through each page, I realized that the value of others is COLLECTIVE to those God places in their lives. They have collective significance that may not be reflected in the number of likes on their page or friends in their list. God knew their significance. Far better, far greater, and in far more detail than I could ever know. I was humbled by it. I think we all see a piece of each person, and we can place meaning on that single piece, but it is never a perfect reflection of everything we mean to others. We are not all ‘influencers’ of large crowds. But isn’t it far more meaningful in this world for us to brighten the corner of it from which we stand, no matter how many people it touches.

We mean significantly more than one single person can define for us. In reality, we all only have so much time and attention to give. We can either mean a LOT to a few people, or a LITTLE to a LOT of people. Regardless of the number of people, your impact IS and can continue TO BE significant.

The loved ones in our lives may not take the time to acknowledge who we are to them each and every day. Or, they may be SO OVERWHELMED that stopping to take the time to say thank you for one thing, may feel embarrassingly insufficient. To that I say, you are MORE than what can possibly be said in one person’s thoughts of you. Infinitely more.

None of us gain value by waiting for others to place it on our shoulders. We earn it by the things we do for them. The irony is that we cannot give from an empty tank. To this end, humanity must love others first to ever feel fully loved itself. Or, as the Bible says, “We love because He first loved us.” This original love is sacrificial love. It is love that comes from an empty tank with seemingly nothing left to give. Find THAT love, and you will find your significance.