Milestones & Moments
You thought it might be you. It wasn’t.
The award went to someone else. The recognition you had started to expect didn’t come. And now you’re sitting with the specific kind of disappointment that comes from being overlooked — the feeling that what you did wasn’t seen, or wasn’t valued, or wasn’t enough.
That feeling is real. And it deserves an honest response rather than a performed one.
Read this passage slowly.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.
Romans 12:3 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Sober judgment. Honest, accurate assessment of yourself and of the situation. Not inflated — and not deflated either. The sober judgment about not receiving an expected award involves a few honest questions.
Was the recognition deserved by the person who received it? Honest answer, not the answer colored by your own disappointment. In most cases, the answer is yes — awards committees make judgment calls among legitimate candidates, and the one selected usually had a real case. The fact that you also had a real case doesn’t make their selection wrong.
What does this tell you about how your contribution is being perceived? Not the verdict on your worth — but useful information about visibility, about the gap between what you produced and what others were able to see. That information might be actionable.
And: does what you did have value regardless of whether it was recognized? The work was the work. The recognition is a comment on it, not the source of its value. What you contributed to this team this season is real. The award doesn’t change that in either direction.
Feel the disappointment. Assess it honestly. Don’t let the absence of recognition become a story about your worth.
The recognition is a comment on the work. It’s not the source of the work’s value. What you contributed is real regardless.
Honest assessment: was the recognition deserved by the person who received it? And what, if anything, does this tell you about what to work on?
Two-part honest assessment. The first question requires genuine honesty rather than resentment. The second turns it into something actionable.
Feel the disappointment. Assess it honestly. Keep the work’s value separate from the recognition.
This devotional requires care. Deliver it without minimizing the disappointment or amplifying the resentment. The goal is honest processing, not suppression or indulgence.