A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.
In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?”
Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 bill to one of you – but first, let me do this.”
He proceeded to crumple the 20 dollar note up. He then asked “who still wants it”?” Still, the hands were up in the air.
“Well,” he replied, “what if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?”
Still, the hands went in the air.
“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20!”
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by… WHO WE ARE!! But, more so than that, paradoxically, the more we esteem God, the more we will value ourselves! Not just who we are – but rather who we are IN GOD!!
So for today let’s affirm as it says in Psalm 139:14 (the Complete Jewish Bible Version):
I thank you because I AM awesomely made, wonderfully; your works are wonders — I know this very well.
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Dwayne B. Neal – Team N.A.M.E.S.
“Knowledge is power, but ACTION is King!”