Influence.

Today we had a day at school without kids for professional development. We all came into the day curious since they didn't tell us what we were going to be learning about. It ended up being all about character development and servant leadership (something out school is founded on) and it was a really wonderful day.

I wanted to share what I thought was possibly the best part of the day. We were discussing leadership and the definition 'Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.' Individually we were asked to write down the top 15 people who we think had the biggest influence on the world. After we wrote out lists we shared them with the table, guess who everyone except one person had at the top of their lists....Jesus! I was so excited and encouraged by this fact. Even though I know that some of them may or may not be believers, it was refreshing to actually hear that name being talked about in school. Being a public teacher you can't be open about religion but there are so many times that I wish I could. We ended up making it a survey of all 100+ teachers at the training and almost 90% of them agreed that Jesus was the person with the biggest influence on the world. This made my heart happy.

Jesus has had such an influence on every single one of us. He came for us, he lived for us, he died for us. Nobody else can love us as much as he does. Knowing that most of my coworkers believe the same thing makes me even happier with the place that I work and was definitely the highlight of my day.

Worth

For a long time I have been wanting to serve in the Nursery at Church and today was my first day! I was a little nervous since I didn't know what to expect but it was a lot of fun. I miss when I used to nanny and take care of little kids so it was a blast to be able to read them stories and play with them. I think it will be a highlight of my week. But before I volunteered, I listened to a sermon that rocked my world, and that's what I want to share.

Today at church we talked about value and how people measure their worth. Our pastor made an analogy about the fact that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Remember in the 90's when we all bought beanie babies because they are going to be 'worth' so much? Well right now those are all sitting in my garage gathering dust. Anyways the point was that our value is in Jesus. He came to this Earth for us. He was betrayed, abandoned, mocked, beaten, tortured, wrongly sentenced, and eventually killed, for us. Jesus really loves us, all of us.

Jesus died for me. I am a person of great worth.

Jesus died for you. You are a person of great worth.

When you are feeling sad, alone, discouraged, or just having a bad day, try to remember how much you are worth. You are on this earth for a reason, you have a purpose, and you were given this life by our great creator.