WORTH

by Ayrian Stone, April 2013


Who determines your worth?
Is it someone you know?
Some circumstance you can’t control?
Is it chance or race or religion?
Is worth how smart you are, how strong, or how beautiful?
Is it time, convenience, location, or power?
Is it skin color, eye color, position, or gender?
Is worth how attractive you are or how useful you’ll be?

When did you start becoming fully human?

Was it when you drew your first birth?

Or spoke your first word?

What happened when ovum and sperm knit together?

When all your cells began to multiply at an astonishing rate?

Did someone want you? Did anyone desire you at all?

Did that change your worth?

Is one person’s choice what gave you value?

Or is it something more?

What happens if your size is too small

Or when your heart’s no longer strong?

What happens when reason starts to fade

And your mind grows dim?

Will worth be discounted then?

Who decides when it’s time to say “The End”?

Will it be parent, sibling, child, governor, or friend?

Will your worth remain when you can’t pull your next breath?

What’s the exact moment when we can say, “This one’s not worth fighting for”?

Today, Oh, God, we need Your help.

We need Your strength to see the value You’ve given each and every one of us.

These bodies You’ve given us are so frail.

Young or old, tiny or grown,

They’re no match against knives, injections, and “not-quite-human” labels.

Yet, these souls You’ve designed to live within such frail shells.

Help us, Lord, to treasure even the most vulnerable among ourselves.

Change our perspective to match Yours.