Value
Let’s face it. I’m a rebel. A quarantine just brings it out even further. I really am one of those people that go stir crazy. I am one that tries so hard to remain positive and doesn’t like to think about the opposite. I do really well at removing myself from current happenings, if it doesn’t affect me, why should it? I’m definitely the last one to jump on any bandwagon and don’t like to talk/do/share an opinion on the current bandwagon hot topics, they actually annoy me. So, here I am. Defying what I just wrote. I’ve been trying this whole time to figure out what my right response should be during this time, as the world has come to a halt.
It is that of VALUE, expressed in the following ways:
First, the value of life. If I am to value life, then I must place some value in caring about this. If I care about the 1,600 babies that don’t get to see life, don’t have life chosen for them each day, then I need to see the 1,000 that have died from a virus as important as well. I shouldn’t get to pick and choose what lives I value and which I do not. I can be passionate about one and less passionate about the other topic, that’s fair. How often have we cared about the 2,303 people that die each day due to cardiovascular disease? That’s an average of someone dying every 38 seconds! 40% of those individuals being classified as “obese”. I just want to go be a personal health cheerleader or something; I had no idea, until of course everyone started tracking death rates in the US and I just started caring about way too many things. I guess that’s how I am- all or nothing. But I don’t want to be a hypocrite— a person who acts contrary to his or her beliefs. I value life because I truly believe that God is the biggest advocate and fan of life. As I seek His heart, I want to be inclined to be touched by lives that need love, hope, a voice, that need another day to experience Jesus until they can be taken home to be with Jesus Himself.
Next, this time is perfect for reshaping my values. As I sit at home, what have I valued? What did I place value in? Friends, job, money, church, having fun out on the town... I miss collective worship more than anything. I miss fellowship, people, physical touch, being able to pick my nose. Just making sure you’re still reading, hehe....how much value did I put in these things before? How much did I let them know as a whole how much I appreciated them before? I feel a little like that little tyke whose mom is going to get rid of an old toy, who melts into a fit. I may not have played with or cared about the toy before, but take it away and all of the sudden my world is falling apart. You could see all over the internet memes about the things that we won’t take for granted after all of this over, but really. It’s probably time for us to cash in some intentionality while we have the time to share exactly just how much those things mean to us. Go ahead, write a letter, I dare you. Keep choosing to value those things. Do more living room worship. Do more dinners with the roommates. This last week and a half the girls at this house realized we hadn’t actually sat down at the dinner table together or played a game just because we could and we’ve been roommates for years! I shouldn’t have waited this long to want to drop off something on my neighbor’s porch. I shouldn’t have only now been thinking about how to help the elderly in my community. What do I value and how does it show?
I value life, families reuniting, community, needing each other, church, showing up, helping out. He is in the work of restoring, transforming, changing our hearts, and dishing out hope. Always so much hope. Please, please, let me know if there’s anything in here, or something many times besides, I can help with. For serious, I mean what I say. We’re stronger together, I can’t help but think that that’s how it was intended to be. Sharing as each has need, or checking in before they do. I value you.
Just in case you need a little worship and a new song to sing, Rend Collective’s new song Your Name is Power:
It is that of VALUE, expressed in the following ways:
First, the value of life. If I am to value life, then I must place some value in caring about this. If I care about the 1,600 babies that don’t get to see life, don’t have life chosen for them each day, then I need to see the 1,000 that have died from a virus as important as well. I shouldn’t get to pick and choose what lives I value and which I do not. I can be passionate about one and less passionate about the other topic, that’s fair. How often have we cared about the 2,303 people that die each day due to cardiovascular disease? That’s an average of someone dying every 38 seconds! 40% of those individuals being classified as “obese”. I just want to go be a personal health cheerleader or something; I had no idea, until of course everyone started tracking death rates in the US and I just started caring about way too many things. I guess that’s how I am- all or nothing. But I don’t want to be a hypocrite— a person who acts contrary to his or her beliefs. I value life because I truly believe that God is the biggest advocate and fan of life. As I seek His heart, I want to be inclined to be touched by lives that need love, hope, a voice, that need another day to experience Jesus until they can be taken home to be with Jesus Himself.
Next, this time is perfect for reshaping my values. As I sit at home, what have I valued? What did I place value in? Friends, job, money, church, having fun out on the town... I miss collective worship more than anything. I miss fellowship, people, physical touch, being able to pick my nose. Just making sure you’re still reading, hehe....how much value did I put in these things before? How much did I let them know as a whole how much I appreciated them before? I feel a little like that little tyke whose mom is going to get rid of an old toy, who melts into a fit. I may not have played with or cared about the toy before, but take it away and all of the sudden my world is falling apart. You could see all over the internet memes about the things that we won’t take for granted after all of this over, but really. It’s probably time for us to cash in some intentionality while we have the time to share exactly just how much those things mean to us. Go ahead, write a letter, I dare you. Keep choosing to value those things. Do more living room worship. Do more dinners with the roommates. This last week and a half the girls at this house realized we hadn’t actually sat down at the dinner table together or played a game just because we could and we’ve been roommates for years! I shouldn’t have waited this long to want to drop off something on my neighbor’s porch. I shouldn’t have only now been thinking about how to help the elderly in my community. What do I value and how does it show?
I value life, families reuniting, community, needing each other, church, showing up, helping out. He is in the work of restoring, transforming, changing our hearts, and dishing out hope. Always so much hope. Please, please, let me know if there’s anything in here, or something many times besides, I can help with. For serious, I mean what I say. We’re stronger together, I can’t help but think that that’s how it was intended to be. Sharing as each has need, or checking in before they do. I value you.
Just in case you need a little worship and a new song to sing, Rend Collective’s new song Your Name is Power:
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