Got Glue?

This little ceramic plaque fell off my wall one day and was dashed to pieces on my ceramic tile floor. I was upset at first, but now that it's all glued back together I think it means more to me broken than it ever meant to me whole. 

I think the imperfections of the broken plaque add character and dimension and make the message more meaningful. Before it was just a nice reminder that I shouldn't let my imperfections stop me from doing things. But now whenever I look at it I am reminded that while I am broken, imperfect, and inadequate, with God's help I can be useful and valuable still the same--maybe even more so than if I were in perfect condition.

God's Grace is glue and wholeness only comes through Him. In fact, it is the "Him" inside each of us holding us together that qualifies us. If it were possible to be perfect without God, there would be no place for Him in our hearts. Then where would we be? A nice thought without real meaning? Knowledge without wisdom?

In that sense, I'm glad to be broken! It's the cracks and chinks that make people interesting, anyway. They give us dimension and depth as long as we have the Glue. Without the Glue though, we're just a bunch of broken, jumbled, meaningless pieces.

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Being Wrong

Beauty and the Beast

C.S. Lewis Sunday - A New Perspective

"Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must be either true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only seventy years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live for ever. Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy are gradually getting worse -- so gradually that the increase in seventy years will not be very noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a million years: in fact, if Christianity is true, Hell is the precisely correct technical term for what it would be. And immortality makes this other difference, which, by the by, has a connection with the difference between totalitarianism and democracy. If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilisation, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilisation, compared with his, is only a moment."

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Twenty Dollar Bill

"I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness, The astonishing light of your own being."

--Hafiz

I have shared the following analogies with my children on countless occasions, but sometimes I forget the lesson myself. I figure, who doesn't need an occasional reminder that every person has a value that does not change, no matter what they do?

Perception is key in the stock market. It's what people think about the value of a company that ultimately determines it's worth. There is a common - VERY common - misconception that what we think of people determines their worth as well. But that's not the way it is at all. With people, perception is not the ruler. 

Think of an infant. He or she comes into the world with an awesome value that I feel so keenly that it often brings tears to my eyes when I hold one. Yet, the child hasn't made a single choice or acted at all. From this it can be concluded that the monumental value each human is born with is not based on choices and therefore does not expand or diminish regardless of a person's actions. People just get blinded by what you do and treat you like less, but you're never worth any less than the day you were born.

I try to remember this when I'm dealing with others. No one you encounter is worth any more or less than you, no matter what they've done. It is important to treat them as such. Even more important, to remember your own unchanging value and treat yourself like the Prince or Princess you are and the King or Queen you can become someday. Enjoy!

Twenty Dollar Bill

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 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 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. 

He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. 

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” 

And 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 into the air.

“My friends, we 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 has happened or what will happen; what you do or will do, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless.”

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special. You are worthy. You have a value that does not fluctuate on the whims of those around you. Don't EVER forget it!

--Author Unknown