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        Your Undiminished Value 
        Listen to this story: A well-known speaker started off his seminar 
        by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would 
        like this $20 bill?" He said, " I am going to give this to one 
        of 
        you, but first let me do this." 
      He proceeded 
        to crumple the bill up. He then asked, "Who still 
        wants it?" The hands went up in the air. "Well," he continued, 
        "what if I do this?" He dropped it to the ground and started 
        to 
        grind it into the floor with his shoe. 
      Then he picked 
        it up, crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" 
        Still hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned 
        a very valuable lesson," he said. "No matter what I did to the 
        money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. 
        It was still worth 20 dollars. Many times in our lives, we are 
        dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions that 
        we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel that we 
        are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, 
        you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely 
        creased, you are always priceless to those who love you and especially 
        to the God who loves you unconditionally. 
      "The 
        worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or who we know, 
        or who we are; our worth is determined by whose we are --You are 
        special don't ever forget it." 
      God looks 
        to us to help make His world new, to help make Gods world 
        bright with the light of peace and good will. He looks to us to 
        know our value. He yearns for us to see the value in others, and 
        to nurture them with His love. 
         
        --from the sermon "God's Light and Love Pours Into Our Souls" 
        by the Rev. William A. Kolb 
       
        Read the sermon in its entirety. 
         
         
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