# 10 - Don't sweat the small stuff
# 9 - Being mean blows chunks
# 8 - You can't reason with the unreasonable
# 7 - I need quiet
# 6 - Life is unpredictable; change is constant
# 5 - Giving is good; receiving is hard
# 4 - Less is more
# 3 - I need to create
# 2 - I need people
I didn't really learn this lesson until probably the last 10 or so years of my life. The first almost 40 years I saw people through a different lens - nice to have around if they looked like me, sounded like me, lived like me, believed like me on most things, behaved like me, worked like me, thought like me.
Are you catching a theme there? The common word above is "me." Pretty self-centered view of people, don't ya think? I put myself up as the standard by which people are evaluated and "kept" in my life. Talk about a setup for an "us" and "them" mentality.
I can't necessarily point to any one epiphany moment where that mindset began to shift, but thankfully it started to happen. I began to hear phrases like "people matter" on a regular basis. Or things like "step outside of your comfort zone." Or hear people talk about community as being bigger than only those that I naturally gravitate towards. Or even have people suggest that I might need people who are different than me - who even believe different than me - to change and grow and stretch me.
And it started to sink in. I'm not saying I'm 100% "there" yet, but I believe those things now more than ever and I'm leanring how to live them out.
People really are the most important creatures on this planet. People are the funniest creatures...
...the most maddening creatures...the most unpredictable creatures...
...the smartest creatures...the most highly-motivated creatures...
...the most reasoned creatures, and at times, the most loving...
...and the most hateful.
Perhaps a good word to describe all of those things is complex....like our Creator, in Whose image I believe we are designed. And I'm one of those people that now understands it is that very image bearing quality that is what instills within us our very worth...the very reason why people matter so much. Even the most hateful and maddening ones.
Don't get me wrong. I like animals, too. "Especially with gravy" as the T-shirt goes! (Lighten up, people. It's a bit of humor...) Seriously I am not anti-animals, because I need people. I don't happen to have any animals living in my home, but that is a choice primarily motivated by 2 things: a) being in responsibility reduction mode for the past few years; and b) various financial goals. Animals bring a great deal of joy and love and laughter and assistance to our lives. But as of today, I don't particularly need any animals.
But I need people. Today and always. Whether I want people or not, I need them. I need people who are different than me. I need people who are similar to me. I need people who make me crazy. I need people who soothe me. I need people who challenge me. I need people who inspire me. I need people who make me laugh. I need people who bring a tear. I need creative people. I need beautiful people. I need people who the world sees as not quite good enough.
Because people matter. And without all of these different people in my life, I can never become all that I am meant to be. And yes, even at 50 years old (as of tomorrow!) I am still becoming.
And people are one important part of making that happen.
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