Validation and Blogging Awards

I admit it! I crave validation! From people! Though I know my true worth is NOT found in how many comments I get or if I am nominated or win a blog award. My validation is in Christ! The fact that He was willing to give his life for ME should be enough, right?

I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t competitive and loved to win. But this post isn’t about having a pity party. And I’m not even thinking about myself, though that’s what sparked this post. I’m thinking about this competitive society and the need to be the best at things. Even something so innocent as a way to bless others by giving them an award, could actually be used to depress and discourage many others.

So though I nominated others for this award and I’m happy to say my nominees made it to the finals, and I’ll most likely be voting, I still need to ask the question “Why do we feel the need to put SOMEONE in the top position, to honor them so to speak when so many of us bloggers out there are doing an amazing job uplifting, encouraging, and making others laugh? (talk about a run on sentence!)

Is it just me? Or do these blog awards resemble high school popularity contests, validating many of the ones who already have the popularity, numbers and the comments, while bringing to the surface the insecurities all us average Joe bloggers already feel about ourselves?

Is it wrong in saying, maybe we should nix all these blog awards? Jesus never played favorites. (Okay, well, maybe he did with the disciples.) But I can’t help think that one person’s blessing, could be one hundred others’ disappointment, and that’s not what Jesus was about.

So what do you think? Should I be impressed every time I see an award button on the side of someone’s blog? Or maybe I’ll make up my own award! Most Loved Award by Christ! That’s one contest we would ALL win and a button we could ALL display proudly on our sidebars!