What is Important?

We are continually bombarded by things that are supposedly important...but important to who? What is important to me, may not be important to you and what we deem important to us may not be important to God. What we consider important may not really be important in the overall big picture? Do we need someone else to compare ourselves to to feel important, or do we need someone to praise us to feel important? Some people belittle someone else to feel important, or compare themselves to others to believe they're more important. But are they really as important as they feel they are? Does feeling important have anything to do with being important? Is being important really that important? What matter does the importance of one thing have over another? Who decides what's more important? Is your importance more important than my importance?

We lose our way from time to time when we forget what's important to us. Some spend a lifetime looking and never think they find it. We've become a culture seeking fulfillment in physical things and tangibles where we overlook the everyday gifts that bring us the greatest joys- simple pleasures, family, friends, clean air, beautiful bird songs, ice cream, compassion, kind words, a helping hand, the majesty of nature, the leaves changing colors in fall, the flowers blooming in spring. We take so many things for granted and concentrate so much on the ownership of things, that something that seems to have importance one moment, suddenly loses its importance the next. Perhaps what's truly important lies at the foundation of each of our beings as to who we are, our values and beliefs, our hopes and dreams, our ideals and our passions.