One Stop Off the Highway

When you get off the exit on I-275 to get to the house I grew up in, you don’t pass anything that would blow you away. You see a Hilton Garden hotel, a campus of corporate buildings, and a tiny strip mall with a gas station across the street. The hotel is big, but when you grow up around it, you don’t stop to notice it much, because it’s a building just like the others. It’s a normal exit among many in the United States that are just like it.

During my childhood, this exit was the center of my life. It was where I came home from school, got gas, and even where my dad’s business was located. But for some people, it is simply where they stop for the night, get one night of sleep, grab some food, and get on the road. It’s one exit of many in an entire country of highways.

I say all this because it’s so easy to think our world is bigger than it is. The truth is that our world is so much smaller than we think – small enough to be a stop for someone on a road trip or to grab a sandwich. It’s humbling, if you think about it. Although it might be a cliché to say, “you’re not the center of the universe,” it’s true. We are important because we are valued by God and because we are important to the people we know, but we are never as big as we think. Even some of the most famous people are completely unknown outside of their fanbase.

This removes the pressure of everything being focused on you. It gives you are reality-based worldview that you are one fish in a giant pond, and being such a fish gives us a beautiful dose of humility. Scripture is full of reminders of the importance of humility. God does not shy away from making this known in the Old or New Testament. In the book of James, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” At the end of the psalms, we hear: “The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked from the ground.” It’s safe to say that God appreciates those who humble themselves.

God cares about us, and that gives us importance, just like how we care for our children or friends gives them importance. But it’s just as important not to puff up our ego to make ourselves something we’re not. We are one in a world of many, and that’s a wonderful thing. As my dad used to tell me, “you’re unique, just like everybody else.”

*Scripture References: James 4:6, Psalm 147:6