Dear friends,
This past weekend, Torrance hosted its 3rd annual One Day Spiritual Retreat, an event aimed at developing the spirituality of our older youth (16+). As Chi Pauline explains, “in preparation for the coming school year, we want to remind ourselves about what is important in our service and renew our faith”-- why we are here.
So, the focus of my post will be to explain the theme that was explored at this retreat, and why it matters to us as leaders of our youth.
For those of you that could not attend, the theme this year was “What is your Net Worth?”
“Net Worth” is a term often used to distinguish a person’s assets in a monetary way.
For instance, a quick google search tells us that Bill Gates net worth (counting his property, investments, savings, etc.) is somewhere between 78 and 90 billion US Dollars. On the other hand, if one were to calculate Anh Peter’s net worth, it would probably be a lot lower, counting 4 years of college tuition.
It would not take a genius mathematician to conclude that Bill Gates is probably worth alot more than me. He drives a nicer car, lives in a bigger house, and has a way fancier education. These are all things that money can assure.
Moreover, Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, are known to be one of the BIGGEST philanthropists in the world. A philanthropist is a person who promotes the welfare of others for nothing in return. They use their enormous fortune to help millions of poor, sick and starving people around the world everyday. Money allows them to benefit the world in so many ways.
Bill Gates makes more and does more in one day, than I could ever do in my entire life. That is a very likely a fact. So, knowing that, why should I continue living? Why should I keep learning, and working, and loving? These are among the biggest questions that we explored throughout our 10 hour retreat.
So, let’s move past money for a second. Because, aren’t there other ways that our society determines value? Of course.
Here are a couple:
- Education: Knowing more means that we are able to do more. Even 10 lifetimes is not enough to learn everything there is to learn about our world. But, at least it makes us more qualified than someone that never received an education.
- Athleticism: Not everyone can be a cop, or a firefighter, or Michael Phelps, or even a construction worker. Strength has always been valued and adorned in every society for thousands of years.
- Social Skills: Progress cannot be achieved by one person alone. Many of the great innovations of our time were built by thousands, even millions, of people working together. Being able to communicate effectively, and maintain relationships is a crucial part of that.
Anyways, my point is that the list goes on. A person’s net worth is not just about money. There are so many ways in which the world values its people. It’s all a matter of perspective.
Think about your immediate families, like our parents and siblings. If you didn’t have any of the above qualities— if you weren’t rich, or smart, or strong, or outgoing— would your parents still value you? If today they were given the chance to sell you for Bill Gates entire fortune, would they accept it? Easy answer: No.
Through the eyes of a parent, their children are worth far more than anything else in this world. There is no amount of money that comes even close. Why? Because of love.
Love is one of those things that throw all logic and reason out the window. It is not something that can be measured by the gifts we give, or the things we do for each other. It is something that drives us, that sustains every fiber of our being. We can live without money, without materialism, even without food for awhile. But, we cannot last without love.
That prepares us for the biggest question. If our net worth depends on the person assessing it, how does God value us? How does God see us in comparison to his other works?
The short answer: God does not value us at all.
Okay, hold on, I know that sounds a little bit weird, but let me explain. We call God our father, because our connection is not limited only to that of a creator and their creation. There is affection. We aren’t stone statues built from clay or plaster. We are living, breathing people capable of marvelous things. We cannot be recreated or replicated. Not even identical twins are the same. We do not refer to ourselves as mere offspring, because it fails to capture the whole picture.
God loves us, in the same way that our parents do, perhaps even more. He did not make us, and leave us to our own devices. He watches everything we do. He sees our anger, our delight, our pain, our excitement, our grief, our enjoyment… He is there to commend us in our achievement, and hold us in our failures. God does not stamp a price tag on any of us. We cannot compare ourselves with others, because that is like comparing staplers and rulers, apples and oranges. None of us are similar in God’s eyes, except for the fact that we are priceless and irreplaceable to him. Although we may disappoint him, often, his love for us does not change.
"God does not make junk, only masterpieces". So, go out there and live knowing you are loved. There are times where we forget that, but we are not alone. We have God, and we have each other.
Remember, that God made us all with purpose. Move forward knowing that you will someday realize it. You have something to offer us all. Let’s make this a great year. We got your back.
Anh Peter
Additional Resources: Here is a beautiful video shown at our retreat by Sister Thanh that I highly encourage all of you watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhfUzodLRvk 
