I’m not much of a joiner, but there is at least one organization in this world that I would like to be a part of. It is an international organization called the Cloud Appreciation Society.

The membership process is as follows:

1. Sign up.

2. Wait for your membership badge to arrive in the mail.

3. Go out, find a comfortable place to sit or lay down, and watch the clouds.

You watch the clouds. Not for any scientific purpose. Not to predict the weather. If you are a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society, you go out and watch the clouds just because it's fun and majestic and relaxing.

I think cloud watching sounds like a great pastime. But I don’t do that. Not because I don’t have a membership badge to some silly organization. I don’t do it for many of the same reasons that you probably don’t do some things that you would like to do. We talk about time and we talk about money and we talk about other obligations, and each of those things are important in their own way. But ultimately, many of us simply choose not to invest in ourselves. It may be the case that you even feel guilty at the thought of doing something that is basically just for you.

If you are a self-centered person who demands that other people sacrifice themselves to make your life what you want it to be, this message isn’t really for you. But if you are one of the many people out there who spends your life working and sacrificing and have done that for so long that you actually feel guilty at the thought of doing something just for you, I have some very important theological news for you.

You matter.

Before you ever do anything or say anything or help anybody or try and be a good person, or whatever, you just matter.

Therefore, I have a challenge for you. Treat yourself today like you are important. Do something just because it's good for you, even if it doesn’t work at all well with all of your other obligations. Watch some clouds, go fishing, build something, read a book, go to rehab. Whatever it is, do it. And do it because you matter.

Treat other people like they matter, as well. And while you’re at it, remember this— God thinks you matter too. And He did something to prove it. He sent His only Son Jesus to die for our sins, so that we could accept Him and be set free. And one day He’s going to come back for His people—through the clouds, in fact.

And who knows, maybe we’ll be out there watching.