Ideas, people, and things are precious to us to the extent we are invested in them.
Please discuss. How does this play out in life?
I’ll start us out. As a nation, we have ideas that we say we hold sacred: that America is a democracy, that we are a great nation and therefore a world power, that Americans experience a higher standard of living than many other countries, that our citizens are well educated, that our country provides all of us with the opportunity to succeed, that all Americans are equal and have the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We have become complacent in these beliefs.
The events of 2020 have been hard on our firmly held ideas around what our country is or isn’t. We have learned that the state of our union isn’t as we may have believed or hoped. We are faced with the dilemma of either revising our view of our nation or investing our focus and capital, as a people, into becoming what we believed we were.
Today’s message reminds me to to take anything or anyone for granted. I do not love people, ways of life, and possessions because they are special. They are special to me because I love them. My investment of focus, energy, and caring is what creates the magic, for me, in my relationships to people, situations, and things. If I want my connections to prosper and fulfill me, I need to imbue them with my caring.
How about you? How does your investment in someone/something relate to its perceived value to you?