Value. We put a price on everything. On houses. Cars. Jewels. Stocks. Milk. Eggs. Our morning hit of java. We also put a price on people. On relationships. And on ourselves.
We treat everything according to how much we value it. Or how we value him or her. We will protect our person from all sorts of harms. And things we may lock in a vault. Whatever it is we value, we spend time admiring it.
Do you treasure yourself? We know more about ourselves than anyone knows. We know about all the dents. All the angry words in traffic. All the vengeful thoughts. All the curse words under our breath. All the ways we might have helped someone – but didn’t. Can we value ourselves despite those ugly truths?
I was thinking about value the other day while cleaning my mother’s wind chimes. As a child, I loved to hear them tinkle from the wind that drifted into the open windows. A sound memory.
One of the last things I removed from my parents’ home last month before selling it was the wind chimes. The five metal tubes hung below a pagoda that dangled from a delicate chain. I don’t suppose the chime would sell for more than a dollar at a yard sale, but it’s valuable to me. Despite the tarnish and the thick covering of dust. Valuable.
Isn’t that like us? Isn’t that how God sees us? Tarnished, yes. And valuable. Yes. He loves us as we are, but he wants to clean us up. To shine again. To reflect the light. His light.
I’m loving a popular Christian song right now. It’s called Reckless Love. While some debate whether the term “reckless” is an accurate description of God’s attribute, I understood the term immediately upon hearing the song the first time. God’s got a crazy love for us. It’s a kind of love that doesn’t make sense in human terms.
It pursues when rejected. It loves when hated. It gives without requiring compensation.
We often measure a thing’s value by what it will give us. A house will provide shelter. A car will get us where we want to go. Jewels make us look good. Stocks pay for retirement. Milk and eggs feed and energize us. Coffee with sugar and cream is a delightful way to wake up.
But if something does not serve us, we don’t typically value it. It must meet a need. But God loves us even when we do not serve him. And God certainly doesn’t need anything from us. He exists all on his own. He loves as is – and loves us too much to leave as is.
No matter what we know, think or fear about ourselves, and no matter what someone else decides to think or say about us, we can wrap ourselves in the knowledge that we are indeed valuable. That we are indeed valued. Valued by the Creator that knows everything about us.
I still haven’t figured out where I’m going to hang my mother’s wind chime. I’ve narrowed it down to the kitchen or the dining room, the spots where I most often open windows. Its sound has always taken me back to spring days in the care of two people who valued me.
Now when I hear it, I’ll also think about the God who values me. About a reckless love.
What does “reckless love” mean to you? How have you seen it demonstrated in your life?
Copyright © 2018 by Toni Lepeska. All rights reserved. www.tonilepeska.com
I love this post. I too am tarnished. I don’t even ring the same anymore. But God loves me unconditionally, radically, yes recklessly. His love breaks all rules to prove how much he values our relationship.
I’m so glad you found it of VALUE. No pun intended. Yes, you are a princess of the Lord. Love the way you put this – breaks all the rules. I’m so glad we’ve both discovered his reckless love.