The world-famous Kew Gardens holds many wonders from the natural world which are easily missed because there are so many of them in one place. It also has beautiful and thought-provoking internal exhibitions within the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. This photo shows one of them – thousands of tiny metal intricately shaped trees are placed in sand. On one side they are black. As you walk alongside, they become invisible, but when you pass them and look back you see each one is painted in colours. The effect is that the non-descript ones become invisible but when seen from a different angle, you find many beautiful colours and shapes, each one having its own beauty. If you sometimes feel invisible, read on:
- ‘I suspect the older you get the more invisible you become’ – Nick Cave
- ‘Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable’ – R Buckminster Fuller
- ‘I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids – and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me’ – Ralph Ellison
- ‘If my significance comes from God, then I know I’m always secure’ – Lecrae
It can happen to anyone at any time – but it is often felt by children, people from minority groups, those who are introverted or elderly. Sometimes women or men who no longer have the good looks of their youth can especially feel it – the feeling of being invisible. In ‘Chicago’ the popular 1975 musical, Amos feels that he is a ‘nobody’ – sense his anguish of being overlooked by Roxie and others in his song:
I tell ya
Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Shoulda been my name
Mister Cellophane
‘Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I’m there
Never even know I’m there … Hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.
That feeling of being overlooked and insignificant is unpleasant. People with insecurities or those with a tendency to be ‘control freaks’ can be prone to this. Hence the driver can be a perceived need to exert power within groups or down to someone simply wanting to have recognition that they count for something too. Surprisingly it can therefore be felt by extroverts and introverts. The reaction of an extrovert to being overlooked is usually to get even louder and more extreme whereas an introvert will become more quiet, withdrawn and frustrated. When you experience this, as you no doubt will at some time, your reaction will indicate what personality type you are likely to be and where you draw your significance from.
- ‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light’ – 1 Peter 2:9
- ‘”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”’ – Jeremiah 29:11
- ‘We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose’ – Romans 8:28
- ‘God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again’ – Philippians 1:6
Whether or not you are important to others, in God’s eyes you are important. You are made in his image as the pinnacle of all he made. God has known you from your very beginning as he watched you being formed:
- ‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be’ – Psalm 139:13-17
Whatever way you look at it, you matter to God. You are significant to him and he longs that you might find your significance in him as his beloved child. You matter so much to him that he gave his only son for you (John 3:16). So if people pass you by or look right through you, remember that God is ‘for you, so who can be against you’ (Romans 8:31). Each one of those little figures in the display was made by someone who took pleasure in what was made – apparently non-descript in one light, invisible when viewed from the side but full of colour and individuality when seen for what they are. Find your security in what God says – you matter, no matter what anyone else says.