I was cleaning up my room
this weekend...as I try to do every weekend.
Despite being immaculate at the
week’s beginnings, something always happens.
I suspect a series of tornadoes caused by the quickly changing pressure
systems in my apartment (aka: the more stressful things are, the more my life
has this tendency to spiral and things just sort of fly through the air and
land where they may...).
But, alas, I digress.
Needless, upon picking up, I
placed some odds and ends in a small wooden bowl where I tend to keep, well,
odd and ends. At the bottom, however, I
noticed a penny. I thought this
interesting. Pennies have a very
particular place in an old Jone’s Soda bottle in my room. I picked it up, ready to place it in its
proper spot, when I realized why I had placed it to the side. It wasn’t just a normal brown penny. It was,
in fact, a 1953 minted Wheatback Penny.
Admittedly, to me, though
fascinating (I love “old” things)...still it is worth just about, well, one
cent. Not worthless – I do keep
collecting my jar of pennies which I know currently contains several dollars
because they add up – but lets face it, no one really misses them when they’re
gone. And my wheat penny? Had I realized it was missing (not likely as
I had forgotten I had it to begin with), its loss would have probably been met
with a “bummer” and that, that would have been it.
So, other than the fact it
was “cool”, why did I keep it around?
Caleb. My younger brother Caleb
enjoys coins. He collected/s the state quarters
and has a mass assortment of varying coins from varying countries. Initially I
had set this penny aside because I knew Caleb would probably appreciate it and
see in it a worth that wasn’t in my line of vision or understanding.
Because Caleb appreciates coins,
there would have an inherent value in the coin itself, although it wouldn’t
surprise me to find he was also well aware of its extended monetary value as
well. In fact, I did a little quick research and discovered that my 1953 S mint wheatback penny is worth, *drum
roll please*...
$0.03!
Alright, so despite the fact
my penny has increased in value by 300%, it still not worth much... but my
brief research also confirmed that depending on the year and rarity potential a
wheatback penny, very much like mine, could be worth as much as
$1,000,000!! WHAT????
Mind. Blown.
Mostly, because, had I picked
up, say, the 1914 D mint penny valued at a much less $1500...I still would have
thought its worth to be somewhere around, well, one cent. Its value would have meant little in the
wrong hands.
It makes me wonder,
contemplate, and become intrigued by the ideas of “value” and “worth”. What things have little worth or value in the
wrong hands but are of infinite value in the hands of those who can hold,
because they know, the true worth? And
I think the end of this query almost always ends not with pennies or things or
even ideas or causes...but people.
It’s not really a new
contemplation. I, admittedly, struggle
greatly with the idea of my own worth. That
I have some sort of intrinsic value. And
I have to be reminded of Whose hands I’m in and how my value increases exponentially
in the eyes of the One who not only made me but desires me.
And I have to remind others
of the same. If I truly believe they
have worth and value (which I do) – then I should be communicating it.
Sometimes it’s not so much
taking a kid by the shoulders and shaking him/her and proclaiming that their
lives mean something. As a “quality time”
person myself, I find time and attention go the longest way with the deepest
impact to communicate truth. Especially
to the otherwise “forgotten” in a group or situation. The forgotten will always look a little
different for each person, in each individual’s sphere of influence...teens,
old people, babies, marginalized, racially diverse, minorities, special needs
(to give very broad categories)...
This was reinforced this
morning at church. I, in conjunction and assistance to my best friend, have
taken on a youth group at her home church.
Started because, well, Liz saw an unmet need. A need for the teens to feel like they had a
place to connect to feel like they mattered.
So, drenched in prayer we attempted uncharted and uncertain
waters...asking for six months to see what would happen...
In the last two months, I’ve
grown quite attached to my kids. Our
group of teenagers is a gangly bunch – more closely resembling “The Sandlot” in
terms of dynamic personalities and gawky misfits than an expected small-town
Sunday School class. And yet...a half
hour after church when we were still chatting with teen six and seven it became
apparent. Apparent how much they blossom
over the attention. We see it every
week. After six weeks, our teens are now
excited to see us. And when they come in
quiet and withdrawn, it doesn’t often take us long to draw them out. Over the last month or two we’ve watched our
most consistent teens blossom in little ways...off of shoots and branches
others had presumed dead and told us not to expect to much from. I’m going to be honest and tell you that Liz
and I are nothing special as youth leaders...but we are intentional. And we’ve strove to make sure our group knows
they’re important to us. We will go back and smirk and laugh a little when
other adults approach us with shock and surprise. “How did you get B to...??” “How did you know...??” “Did they really tell you/show you/joke with
you about...??” “We had no idea!”
And so comes the answer to
the reason Liz started youth group in the first place...because though you held
them, you couldn’t see their worth or their value. Sometimes...it just takes the right set of
hands. The right set of eyes. The right heart. The right mission. Sometimes Liz and I just want to scream. “Don’t you see it!? How could you miss it?! They are so ready, so eager, of so much worth
and value. They just need someone to remind
them they are worth valuing; that they shouldn’t be tossed to the side or
forgotten; that they would go searching if to go missing not disregarded with a
‘bummer’ if it was noticed they were present or gone at all...”
What are you holding or what
do you have the potential to hold with an immeasurable value that you’ve almost
disregarded? What, or who, when placed
in the right hands suddenly has to be seen with a completely different
perspective and significance? What do you hold that God already values as of immeasurable
worth? (The parable of the lost coin seems especially applicable here...) Do
you see it holding the same value? Is it
a friend? Acquaintance? Stranger? Is it you? On any account...now what?
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