Know Your Value
Value.
def// to hold in high regard; to be worthy, to be useful to something or someone.
It's amazing how quickly I am lost trying to find this endless, and equally, unreachable attribute.
And it's an interesting thought, an attribute; for they are exactly that--something attributed to me. Something credited it me before I ever existed in this world. Something innately a part of my being.
I have value.
As a human. As a woman. As a daughter, a sister, a friend, a student, a social worker, and maybe even one day as a wife, and a mother.
I forget this quite often. More honestly it is simply, repeatedly, and usually purposefully forgotten.
It's scary. And heavy. To think that I must earn, or maintain, being valued.
On the other hand, it's hard, very, very, hard to accept that something so rich and wonderful as this attribute that was literally knit into me -- my body, mind, heart, even my very soul.
And yours too, for that matter.
I often think of C.S.Lewis when I am in doubt. I absolutely love 'The Chronicles of Narnia,' particularly the 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader.'
There is a fabulously portrayed scene between Aslan and Lucy; I know it well and I love it, because it's my scene too. It characterizes my life, my struggle, and the calling out of my own value, so, so well.
You see, Lucy desperately wants to be like her older sister, Susan. Understandably so; Susan is beautiful, an excellent marks(wo)man, and thoroughly adored by the people of Narnia, most specifically Prince Caspian. When Lucy comes across a book of incantations (spells), she rips out the page entitled 'beauty.' And one night, aboard the Dawn Treader, she calls forth of powers of the spell to make her beautiful...immediately she sees herself as Susan; she's beautiful, she's elated. But when when her brothers pull her aside for a family photo, the horrible reality of the spell is exposed--there is no more Lucy. In a panic she awakens, and Aslan is there...
"Lucy," says Aslan.
"Aslan," she replies.
"What have you done, child?"
"I don't know. That was awful."
"But you chose it, Lucy," he tells her.
"I didn't mean to choose all that," Lucy answers. "I just wanted to be beautiful like Susan. That's all."
Aslan tells her, "You wished yourself away, and with it much more. Your brothers and sister wouldn't know about Narnia without you, Lucy. You discovered it first—remember?"
"I'm so sorry," Lucy says sadly.
"You doubt your value," says Aslan. "Don't run from who you are."
You doubt your value; don't run from who you are.
What a message to swallow.
And what truth to embrace.
To often, I think that I am simply not enough. Maybe you do too.
Not pretty enough (or handsome enough).
Not smart enough.
Not strong enough.
Not fast enough.
Not creative enough.
Not talented enough.
Not cool enough.
Not funny enough.
Not enough.
As this person. Or that person.
But every person was attributed value.
And each of us was created for something so much bigger than ourselves.
I often think of Lucy.
Lucy not only discovered Narina, she saved lives while there. She was the one that walked on the bridge that held the Telmarines off, and she was the one who raced across the countryside in the face of danger to find Aslan. In fact, she came to known to the kingdom as 'Queen Lucy, the Valiant One.' It didn't matter that she was the smallest or youngest; when she recognized her value, she was an unstoppable force.
There are plenty more Lucy's here in the real world too.
That is, people who are unaware of how 'incapable' they are but are assured of their life's value.
These people, well they accomplished the impossible, the unreasonable, and the unexpected.
Harriet Tubman
A slave turned abolitionist.
Mary Richmond
A woman with no formal education who became a text book author.
Jessie Rees
A warrior of cancer by way of jars filled with joy.
Queen Ester
A teenage bride who became the heroine to and for her people.
Eleanor Roosevelt
An orphan who became the voice on behalf of America's marginalized.
Katie Davis
A college drop-out turned mother to (13+!!) orphans in Uganda.
Diane Nash
A college student turned freedom rider.
In one of Anne Frank's final journal entries, she penned:
Well Anne Frank, you knew your gift, your craft, your passion, and your value...and by God, did you ever write for the world.
The list goes on and on.
I'm on it.
You are too.
When we stop trying to fix all the things wrong with us, we can finally see all that is right.
And it is at this place, that we stop running from who we are...
I want to stop running.
I want to stop looking in the mirror.
I want to stop doubting my value.
What about you?
Be encouraged, and KNOW.
def// to hold in high regard; to be worthy, to be useful to something or someone.
It's amazing how quickly I am lost trying to find this endless, and equally, unreachable attribute.
And it's an interesting thought, an attribute; for they are exactly that--something attributed to me. Something credited it me before I ever existed in this world. Something innately a part of my being.
I have value.
As a human. As a woman. As a daughter, a sister, a friend, a student, a social worker, and maybe even one day as a wife, and a mother.
I forget this quite often. More honestly it is simply, repeatedly, and usually purposefully forgotten.
It's scary. And heavy. To think that I must earn, or maintain, being valued.
On the other hand, it's hard, very, very, hard to accept that something so rich and wonderful as this attribute that was literally knit into me -- my body, mind, heart, even my very soul.
And yours too, for that matter.
I often think of C.S.Lewis when I am in doubt. I absolutely love 'The Chronicles of Narnia,' particularly the 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader.'
There is a fabulously portrayed scene between Aslan and Lucy; I know it well and I love it, because it's my scene too. It characterizes my life, my struggle, and the calling out of my own value, so, so well.
You see, Lucy desperately wants to be like her older sister, Susan. Understandably so; Susan is beautiful, an excellent marks(wo)man, and thoroughly adored by the people of Narnia, most specifically Prince Caspian. When Lucy comes across a book of incantations (spells), she rips out the page entitled 'beauty.' And one night, aboard the Dawn Treader, she calls forth of powers of the spell to make her beautiful...immediately she sees herself as Susan; she's beautiful, she's elated. But when when her brothers pull her aside for a family photo, the horrible reality of the spell is exposed--there is no more Lucy. In a panic she awakens, and Aslan is there...
"Aslan," she replies.
"What have you done, child?"
"I don't know. That was awful."
"But you chose it, Lucy," he tells her.
"I didn't mean to choose all that," Lucy answers. "I just wanted to be beautiful like Susan. That's all."
Aslan tells her, "You wished yourself away, and with it much more. Your brothers and sister wouldn't know about Narnia without you, Lucy. You discovered it first—remember?"
"I'm so sorry," Lucy says sadly.
"You doubt your value," says Aslan. "Don't run from who you are."
You doubt your value; don't run from who you are.
What a message to swallow.
And what truth to embrace.
To often, I think that I am simply not enough. Maybe you do too.
Not pretty enough (or handsome enough).
Not smart enough.
Not strong enough.
Not fast enough.
Not creative enough.
Not talented enough.
Not cool enough.
Not funny enough.
Not enough.
As this person. Or that person.
But every person was attributed value.
And each of us was created for something so much bigger than ourselves.
I often think of Lucy.
Lucy not only discovered Narina, she saved lives while there. She was the one that walked on the bridge that held the Telmarines off, and she was the one who raced across the countryside in the face of danger to find Aslan. In fact, she came to known to the kingdom as 'Queen Lucy, the Valiant One.' It didn't matter that she was the smallest or youngest; when she recognized her value, she was an unstoppable force.
There are plenty more Lucy's here in the real world too.
That is, people who are unaware of how 'incapable' they are but are assured of their life's value.
These people, well they accomplished the impossible, the unreasonable, and the unexpected.
Harriet Tubman
A slave turned abolitionist.
Mary Richmond
A woman with no formal education who became a text book author.
Jessie Rees
A warrior of cancer by way of jars filled with joy.
Queen Ester
A teenage bride who became the heroine to and for her people.
Eleanor Roosevelt
An orphan who became the voice on behalf of America's marginalized.
Katie Davis
A college drop-out turned mother to (13+!!) orphans in Uganda.
Diane Nash
A college student turned freedom rider.
In one of Anne Frank's final journal entries, she penned:
"And if I don't have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can't imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ...
I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that's inside me!"
Well Anne Frank, you knew your gift, your craft, your passion, and your value...and by God, did you ever write for the world.
The list goes on and on.
I'm on it.
You are too.
When we stop trying to fix all the things wrong with us, we can finally see all that is right.
And it is at this place, that we stop running from who we are...
I want to stop running.
I want to stop looking in the mirror.
I want to stop doubting my value.
What about you?
Be encouraged, and KNOW.
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