Who determines your value?

On a recent post over at Honor Yourself , she posted this quote: “Here's one of the greatest truths in life: if you don't place a value on yourself, somebody else will.” How true ... and the sad thing is that when we let someone else place a value on our life, we just go along and agree with whatever they decree. Unfortunately, the voices in our life who often shout the loudest tend to be the voices that tell us how little we’re worth – sometimes the words are obvious (idiot, stupid, you never do it right); sometimes the words are subtle (why do you dress like that, don’t you want to be like her) ... Sometimes the world’s voices are so loud, we forget they aren’t the voice we are supposed to listen to.

God’s voice tells us we are precious and unique. God’s voice tells us we are each special and wonderful and loved. Yes, that’s right, each of us. God’s voice reminds us it isn’t a competition, but that we are all loved and loved fully in ways beyond our complete comprehension. God's voice reminds us we were each created to be the same yet different; and our task is to find the ways in which we are alike and the ways in which we are unique, and to try not to confuse the two... Can you hear that voice?

I gave my niece a wall plaque a few years ago that said, “In a world where you can be anything, be yourself.” [read that again: In a world where you can be anything, be yourself.] She still has it hanging on her wall. I hope she listens to it and truly takes it to heart. Be yourself. It is a lesson that I have struggled with – being myself despite what the world and what people I love ask me to be (or expect or wish or...); being myself despite knowing that if I was willing to act like others or think like others or compromise in certain ways, then I might have more friends or have more respect from some or be looked at as successful and accomplished. ... I have learned over the years that it is much more important to me to be authentic, to be myself. You see, when I try to be someone else – to be something I’m not just to please or appease you – then my relationship with God suffers, as well as my relationship with you. The more authentic I am able to be, the closer to God I feel. The more authentic I am able to be, the closer to you I am able to become.

There is an old Hasidic story that tells of a great Jewish teacher, Zusia, who one day shared with his followers that he had finally come to understand the one question that would be asked of him after his death. He said, “I won’t be asked why I wasn’t a better Moses leading my people out of bondage. And I won’t be asked why I wasn’t a better Joshua leading my people into the Promised Land. No – there is only one question that I will be asked. They will say, 'Zusia, there was only one thing that no power of heaven or earth could have prevented you from becoming. … Zusia, why weren't you Zusia?'"

Blessings and peace.