Exchange

Recently my daughter was faced with a challenge,  to exchange something precious to her, something tangible, for acceptance.  This angered me at first but the more I poured over the exchange I realized what an incredible learning opportunity for her and for me.    She was afraid I would be angry because that tangible item was a bracelet that belonged to me, and I was for a minute, but what angered me more is that my daughter believed she needed to give up something she loved in order to be loved.  That she alone was unworthy, only giving up my bracelet would make her acceptable.  What happens when she has something more appealing?  Then the bracelet is no longer the acceptable payment for friendship.  I immediately felt like I failed her and I wasn’t angry anymore but really sad, what had I done to make her believe her worth could be held in that little blue bracelet?  Maybe I was not saying enough about how wonderful she was, possible I was doing more discipline than praise, did she think she needed to do something a certain way for me to love her??  Oh man that rabbit hole is SO deep.  Why?  Well for the exact reason I feel inadequate and wonder what I have done, we are imperfect, but just because she doubted her worth for a moment did not mean I had failed her.    Maybe God created this moment for she and I to both learn how valuable we were.

Exchange by definition is an act of giving one thing and receiving another (especially  of the same type or value) in return.

How often is it that we experience exchange in this way?  Do we feel the value of things exchanged is fair, on our end or the opposing? Two thoughts here.  I have made some exchanges in my day where it was most definitely in my favor and some I felt forced or persuaded to make that did not end in my favor.

We ask the world so often- Will you exchange ?

Hate for Love

Anger for Forgiveness

Judgement for Acceptance

The world is so often asking us for a different exchange, will we trade things valuable to us for fame and fortune.  What is the world asking you to trade? Possibly your most valuable asset, time, the world is asking you to exchange it .. lets start small..

for the completion of rings on  your smart watch, did you stand long enough? move long enough? exercise enough?

is your work week long enough? is there an adequate amount of money in the bank? did you attend the appropriate functions?

It is just time right? Maybe you are exchanging a valuable time with your family,kids, or friends for one of those things, but what we so often forget to give some of our most precious commodity to the only one who knows just how many minutes are in that time account.

Make a valuable exchange, exchange anxiety for peace, loneliness for love, selfishness for kindness, exchange your pain for love everlasting .

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

We are approaching the season of gifts, but let us not be distracted by the bows and ribbons and forget the biggest exchange, the reason this very season exist, that we were so loved that God sent his son to make the ultimate exchange, and the gift given to us will never measure up to anything we could ever exchange for it.  You are so valuable that God gave his only son for You…  how is that for an exchange.