To Be Valued

Hmmm, all day I have been thinking about what I shall blog about today. There are so many interesting things to write about, I'm really not sure where to start! I should probably look for a theme or something, but for now, I shall focus on whatever random thoughts come into my mind for the day. Today's post is one that is especially close to my heart: to be valued. To feel valued is one of the reasons we exist. Jesus had a purpose when He came—to fulfill His mission of salvation. God the Father expressed how much He valued Jesus' sacrifice a number of times, like when Jesus was baptized or on the Mount of Transfiguration. He valued Jesus' mission by validating the acts of service that Jesus performed, like feeding thousands of people or healing the sick. When a child's simple handmade gift is presented to their parent, and the parent exclaims in amazement at the child's handiwork, they are affirming the child and the child feels valued. As Christians, we are given something more, a yearning in our hearts to make a difference whether it is laboring in the mission fields of Africa or processing the paperwork that makes it possible for those missionaries to go out and lead souls to Christ. We long to feel valued in our service, to be affirmed that we are in the right path and that our acts of kindness are not going unseen. I am not speaking about selfish recognition; I am speaking about those simple moments of recognition that our deeds are not in vain. Imagine if you were a missionary in an orphanage in Mexico. Imagine that every day, you get up, feed the children, clothe them, bathe them, teach them, and help them with their little daily tasks. Now imagine that every single day, for an entire year, not one of those children would smile or say thank you. Their eyes wouldn't light up when they finally understood a math problem. Imagine that your coworkers would be silent and sullen every single day with no words of affirmation for what you were doing. Sounds quite depressing, right? It is. We were not created to be treated as mere machines, performing tasks that appear to be meaningless. We were not created to be treated as worthless, thrown aside and of no value. When God created us, He looked down and said it, we, were very good. True, sin has entered the world and messed up a lot of things for us. But amidst all of that, God has been continually and constantly holding out His hand and saying, "You are of value to me. Every time you struggle to do something right, it's just like you've presented me with a really special handmade gift, and I beam with pride, because you are My child." You know the timeless saying that goes like this "I asked Jesus, how much do You love me? He replied, this much, and stretched out His arms and died." Jesus stretched those arms out as far as they would go. He gave as much as He could give—everything—Himself. Because He values you. He sees your life and He sees the potential you have to truly make that difference that you are yearning for. So back to my original statement: to feel valued is one of the reasons we exist. Maybe, in the end, it isn't so much about how or if we feel valued by people in our lives (though that is very important and I shall write more about it some other time). Maybe, what really counts, is that we recognize the infinite value God placed on us when He created us. The value of a life, a Solitary Life, Jesus' life. There can be no greater value.