That's me, behind Jon Foreman, talking to my friend Joe, pretending that I don't even recognize the Switchfoot front man only feet from me. He continued to circle the room, chatting it up with people, while Joe, Vince, my wife, and I engaged in small talk, all playing it "cool." Meanwhile, my palms were sweating, and my heart was racing.
 
I know that Jon Foreman is just a man, and the fact that he's a rock star shouldn't really make a difference. But I couldn't help but feel a little nervous with him being in the same room as me - call it a healthy respect for a great artist.
 
Yet, strangely, despite my esteem for the man, I didn't immediately flock to his side and greet him when he walked into the room. In fact, I didn't even engage him in conversation until I was practically forced. I guess I was just scared.
 
Heck, I might as well have been a teenage girl at a middle school dance "trying" to not be noticed by the boy across the room.
 
And so it is with our lives - we do some things to "not be noticed" when really our hearts are screaming to be affirmed, to be acknowledged and told that we are of great value.
 
We try do things, even church things, with a measure of humility, rattling off phrases we've learned, like, "It's not about me"or "all for the glory of God." But secretly, we're wondering how much of it is about us. We're wondering in this great drama of humanity: What's the use of a Romance without a Beloved who does more than enjoy the ride?
 
And so, maybe in a sense, it is about us. I know that I run the risk of sounding egocentric or humanistic, but maybe we are part of the story. Maybe God did intend for us to have a role. Maybe we don't need to hang out in the corner, waiting to be noticed. Maybe we can boldly walk in the new life we've been given... right into the arms of a Lover, staring into the eyes of the One whom we admire, without anixety or trepidation.
 
I could be wrong, but when I read Scriptures (like the following passage) they don't tell me that it's about me in the sense that I earned anything, but they do in the sense that God's Beloved are, indeed, special and set apart. And that may be the most humbling part of Redemption to accept - our own glory:
 
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery... (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

What do you think? Is it prideful to want to be noticed?