What is your value?

Ok, it is Good Friday, so I'm going to get deep for a few moments, but stay with me, it has to do with Immi, it has to do with me, with all of us.

We are more than our labels right?  Somewhere deep down we all know that, but how?  The media and our culture certainly don't tell us that.  We are born and start being taught how to walk, talk, read, write.  We go to school to learn, to get grades, to get a job, to earn money, to eat and live and do the things we want.  Of course there is nothing wrong with this, but have you ever thought of the underlying messages?  I hadn't.  I hadn't ever thought about how much emphasis there is on our education.  I took for granted my GCSEs, A levels, degree, didn't really think much of it, until I was faced with a daughter who struggles academically, who struggles physically and who struggles socially and saw her often on the margins.

What is our value?  Where does our worth come from?  Subtly our society tells us that our worth is from what we do.  If we are at a party and say 'I'm a doctor.' (I'm not by the way!) Ears prick up, if you reply 'I'm a house wife' or even worse 'I don't go out to paid work' the conversation moves on.  But our intrinsic worth is not in what we do, it is in who we are.  I want Imogen to know that she is valuable and loved whether she never reads a book in her life or whether she becomes a professor of neurobiology.  Whether her body is whole or broken, whether she can relate to others around her or not.

Sadly, those who often bring the most brightness to our day - I think of the many people I have known with disabilities of varying levels - are pushed to the side because what they add to society isn't seen as valuable enough.  I am thankful that I am loved by a God who loves me for who I am, not what I do.  Who sees value in every life, who takes joy in each of his creations.  I want Immi to know this kind of unconditional love, not dependent on what she can give back.  Yes, those who have no faith may say, I know that all life has value and worth, but I would ask 'How, how do you know that?' Our society certainly doesn't portray

that value.  
How do I know? Because 2000 years ago God showed me. I want Immi to know that kind of love.  I am thankful that I can keep coming back to that kind of love.

What about you?  You are loved too, just for being you.