Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
34But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:34-40 ESV
Paul, I believe that a great many of the troubles in this world stem from a distorted view on ones self. Jesus instructed us to "love your neighbor as yourself" and I seldom hear anyone stress the imperative of a proper self image. On the other extreme of a poor self image is narcissism, which is none other than idolatry, but whether you focus on how crummy you think you are or how great you think you are, you are still focused on yourself. And oddly enough, both will treat others poorly, let me explain...
When people think they're worthless they tend to sort of engineer their surroundings to agree with that. For instance, you ever heard this? "God was able to take the people out of Egypt but He could not take Egypt out of the people." Now, that doesn't mean God is lacking in power, it means the Hebrews had and exercised free will. They saw themselves as slaves and they could not or would not walk in their newfound freedom. I believe a healthy, Godly self image (Imago Dei - means in the image of God) is key to being able to love others and treat them well.
As an aside, I thought of this proverb very soon after watching you work...
Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men. - Proverbs 22:29
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