Price Tags

Dear friends- The "blessings" list on my post will be absent for the next few days. The posts are scheduled posts, all written in one day, because I am extremely busy for the next 3 days. I'll be back to post "live" on Monday. In the mean time, enjoy my thoughts... 

How many of you thought of the Jessie J song when you read that title? While that is a good song, it is not the topic of this post.

But rather, a text a friend sent me yesterday. It said this:
"If you're not being treated with love and respect, check your "price tag." Perhaps you have marked yourself down. It's YOU who tells people what you're worth by what you accept. Get off the 'clearance rack' and get behind where they keep all of the valuables.... Value yourself more. You are special, unique, and wonderful."

My friends, I love a good bargain. If you go into a store, you'll find me with my back bent over, nose dug deep into the clearance bin, trying to scope out a good find.

But a lot of stores throw into clearance bins things that nobody would buy. Flopped products, broken items, outdated things, or things that nobody really wants anymore.

Sometimes, I feel like I belong in the clearance bin.

Based on the way the world looks, the media's messages, ignorance and bitterness from others, sometimes I think I belong deep in the bottom of the clearance bin.

But it's because I accepted the way others view me to be true. I accepted that I am not of any value, I am not of any worth, I deserve to be ignored and persecuted against, and I am nothing.

And I set my price sticker so low, that I was thrown into the clearance bin with the rest of the things that nobody wanted.

But I've realized- I'm more valuable than that. I have worth. I am a treasure. And I'm high priced.

I am lovable- especially in God's eyes. So I dust myself off, pick myself up, and put myself where I belong. (And you belong there too)- on the biggest display in the store, where the best, most expensive things are sold. With the treasured possessions.

I am a treasured possession. Exodus 19:5 says so.

I am special. I am unique. I am loved. And I am wonderful. (That's what God thinks.)

And I don't deserve to be treated like I belong in the clearance bin. That's not going to stop other people's ignorance or cruelty, but you know what? It's not going to put me in the clearance bin.

Because I was bought at a price. (1 Corinthians 6:20). And it's expensive. And nothing compares to what I'm worth to God.

Others may see me- because I'm different because I have a mental illness- like I should be thrown in the clearance bin, or worse, in the dumpster.

But I know I don't belong there. I heard someone say, "People only treat others the way they view themselves. Often, if you are a victim of someone else's bitterness or cruelty, it is because they are unhappy with their lives and themselves."

So I pray that they realize they are valuable too. Because, if they treat me this way, they obviously don't have much value for themselves.

What do you say? Join me in God's arms, where we're all treasured possessions.