The Worth of A Soul

Our girls, especially Heather, repeatedly deal with feeling "less-than" for whatever reason.  We've tried over the years to come up with visual aids and tricks for emotionally fortifying the girls when they are away and in need of a boost.  So far, nothing has worked as well as the visual I adapted using what speaks to my girls...money.

We sat down for family night last Monday, and I read the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants about the worth of the soul.  Then I pulled out a $50 from some birthday money I had and showed it to the girls.  They were in awe having never seen a bill this size before.  They knew what it was worth.  You should have heard the gasp when I crumpled it up into a tiny wad!  I asked them if it was still worth $50 to which they replied that it was.  I smoothed it out and asked again if it was still worth the same, and if they would still use it.  They replied that they would.  Then we had a discussion about the kind of damage that people inflict on each other emotionally, especially those mean kids at school.  I wanted our girls to understand what they were worth and to think about this $50 next time someone says something mean to them.  Will they let the meanness break them down and make them feel worthless, or will they remember that they are still worth the entire amount no matter what happens?  I think the best key to confidence and feeling empowered is knowing what you are worth no matter what.  I want to help my girls have this confidence!

We moved on to our main lesson after that, but that $50 image did it's job.  For a few days afterward as Heather got out of the car for school, I would simply say, "Fifty dollars!"  She would grin, and I could tell it meant a lot to her.  

Someday in the near future, we'll re-visit our $50 bill and talk about sin and repentance and our Father's love for us.  That was the original lessons I borrowed from Here and Here.  It is so hard for us to feel like we are worth the same to our Father in Heaven when we've made mistakes, but what a great visual this money is.  No matter how much damage we've done, we are still worth the full amount in His eyes.