Are you somebody?

Seems like an innocent enough question doesn't it? The answer is obvious...of course you are. But what about all those people that make the headlines and the nightly news? Aren't they the real somebodies in the world? They get all the attention; they are the people that everyone notices...if even for only a brief time.

Rick Santorum, Jeremy Lin, Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney, Rory McIlroy, Benjamin Netanyahu, Justin Bieber, Newt Gingrich, Kate Middleton, Kobe Bryant, Charlie Sheen, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Danika Patrick...all well known, all making the headlines. Somebodies. Politicians, athletes, business leaders, celebrities. In our culture, these are some of the most important people around.

Remember Paris Hilton, Anthony Wiener, Floyd Landis, Rob Blagojevich, John Ashcroft, Lindsey Lohan, Glenn Beck, Barry Bonds, Dennis Hastert, the Jonas Brothers, Roger Clemons?...I could go on and on. These folks were pretty famous too...for a while. Now they are either no longer in the limelight or even worse, have become infamous for all the wrong reasons.

In August 1997, Princess Diana was killed in an automobile accident in Paris. The wife of Prince Charles, Diana was one of the most famous and beloved women in all the world. She certainly was famous as the beautiful bride of the heir to the throne of England. She was young and beautiful. She was involved in several worthy causes including the work to eradicate leftover land mines in various places around the world where wars had been fought.

Five days later, Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India at the age of 87. Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who spent 45 years serving the poorest of poor in India. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

What was remarkable to me was the difference in the reaction to the deaths of these two women. Thousands of people wept and placed flowers, teddy bears and other tributes at Kensington Palace making a pile nearly 5 feet deep as a show of sympathy to Diana. There was nothing resembling this outpouring of adoration for Mother Teresa. I wonder why?

By the world's standards, Diana was beautiful...Mother Teresa was not. Diana was royalty, enjoying all the benefit and entrapments that provided. Mother Teresa lived among and served the poorest and most sick and downtrodden in India.

Who decides if you are somebody? The world around you? The news media? Your boss? Your friends? Your bank? Your spouse? Your family? Your resume? I don't think so. Besides, if those were the ones that determined your somebody-ness, they could easily take that away. Just think about all the somebodies that have eventually been declared nobodies (by the same folks that once said they were somebody.)

My net worth and your net worth are not measured on a spreadsheet. Your net worth is determined by the One that made you. You and I are somebody because God says so.

The old familiar sing-a-long says- "I am somebody because God loves me and I'm accepted just the way that I am. His love is higher; it's deeper and wider, than you and I will, ever understand." That was true in the 1990's when people still actually sang that song. And it is true today. And it will be true tomorrow.