Another good one...

Proverbs 12:9
Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant,
than pretend to be somebody and have no food.

This verse reminded me of something from the movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Matt Damon's character, a con artist, says, it’s better to “be a fake somebody than a real nobody." I thought that was such a perfect way to capture our desire to be somebody. To matter. To have a life and a name and a reputation that was important or respected.

But this verse hits hard at the temptation to pretend to be somebody and the emptiness that results when you fake your life. You are left with nothing because no one can really knew you. Even your friends that you might attract by pretending to be somebody can't really love you because the person they're trying to love doesn't actually exist. It's a character. It’s a composite drawing of traits and emotions and words that you've constructed to look well put together. To look like you’ve got it figured out.

But at the end of that journey, at the end of trying to pretend to be somebody, you can't help but be left hungry. For attention. For affection. For companionship. For validation, for all the things you thought you'd get if you were somebody, but instead you just found more hunger.

Let's be nobodies instead of pretending to be somebody.