So much to reflect on and as the day draw closes to an end.  I started the day off with a charge to the congregation of LICF talking about why we can really celebrate Pride.

While it is great to have a day to celebrate who we are, we don’t need a special day to celebrate who God made us.  We should be celebrating that each and every day of our life.

As the celebration took place today, I had a unique opportunity to internalize the joy of my creation.  God made me and I am so proud of it.  God made me and I have such a tremendous joy because of that.  God made me and in all that I am, I want my life to praise and celebrate God.  I have worth and value because of my creator.

I am proud to be gay!  I am proud to be Christian!  I am proud to be made by God in God’s image!

“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Ephesians 2:10

We look for so many things in life to give us value.  We look to our job, a promotion, a partner, our reputation, a party, and so on.  The sad reality is that at the end of the day, we still walk around empty looking for the value we so long to be.  I have often said that healthy self-esteem is when we figure out that everyone else feels just as bad about themselves as you do about yourself.  It is a universal problem.  The answer is universal, as well.

I recently took up painting.  I asked a class that I was teaching who would give me $10,000 for my painting.  No one volunteered.  I continued to ask who will give me $10,000 for an original Picasso.  Many people in the class rushed to raise their hand.  I looked at the class and asked what was the difference.  A student quickly raised their hand and said the artist.  Picasso is worth a whole lot more.

So the reality is that the artist is what gives a piece of art its value.  If this is true, then why do we keep working so hard to become something great when God has crafted us to be a masterpiece?  The artist of our life is God!  The price tag on your life was God’s son.  You are an invaluable masterpiece created by God.  There is no need to clamor to fame or seek to achieve the heights to gain the approval of those around you.  Your value is not in the fact of who you are but whose you are.

God doesn’t make junk.  God made you.  Therefore, you are not junk.  So stop living like you don’t matter and realize that you are worth so much more than you ever imagined.

For more inspirational writing by the Rev. Dr. G. Shane Hibbs please visit http://www.licf.net/category/takingback/