Hi Downey friends, church, and family. I wanted to share something that I feel is really important and I feel that we often forget. And so I just want to share to remind you, I know you all know this, but I just want to remind you a little bit about your value.

So there's three things I want to share. I want to share about your value, about the value of others, and why it is important that we are careful with what we do.

So have you ever felt like, "Ugh, I stink at math. It is so hard for me. I am the worst at math and I'm probably never going to figure out how to do timetables. They're just, multiplication is so hard for me." And you feel like, "Ugh, I don't, I don't have the same value as all my friends. They all have it. They all memorize them and they know them and I just can't remember them." Have you ever felt that way before? Or maybe it's not about math. Maybe it's about something different. And you feel that you don't have as much value.

Well, I'm here to remind you that you have a lot of value. You have value because you are the child of the Most High God. And that gives you a lot of value. You are so important that God said, for this child, I will send my son home. So that he can die. So that I can have an opportunity to have eternal life with this person. So that is you. That is me. He died. He sent Jesus to die for us. Because we have that much value.

And so sometimes I know I forget. I know my boys forget how much value they have and they compare themselves to others. And yes, others might have, they might have better abilities at something, but it's only because they have more practice at it. And so they might think, oh, I don't have as much practice, so I don't have as much value. And that isn't true.

Your value comes just from being a child of God.

So I wanted to remind you of that. And I also wanted to remind you that when someone says something to you that you have to make you feel that you don't have value, you can remind yourself. You don't need to remind them, but just remind yourself they don't know the truth. And the truth is that I am the child of God.

And because I am the child of God, I have value. And yes, I can practice at things and I can get better at them, but I still have a lot of value. And when you respond to them, hopefully because you know your value,

And when they try to, you know, make you feel that you don't have any value, you can remember, I have a lot of value. And you can respond with, that's so sad that you don't realize how much value you have and how much value I have and that you would talk to me that way. And you can choose to, instead of responding with anger or with like, I really want to, you know, give you a little knuckle sandwich for that comment. You can just think and say, oh, that's so sad. He doesn't even know he's talking to the child of God right now. And that's probably not how you want to talk to a child of God. And so when we are speaking that we are being mindful of how we talk to others so that we're showing them that we understand who they are and who we are. And we show kindness and love and respect, not because people deserve it, not because kids deserve it, sometimes we can say mean things. But we do it because we love and we respect and we are giving honor to God who made us.

So I know this isn't going to fix all your problems, but it'll help you. I'm sure it'll help you, even if it's just a little. When you're feeling down to remind yourself, I am the child of the most high God. I have a lot of value. He sent his son to die for me. I must be important.

And you are. You really are. Treat others with kindness and love and respect because you are treating the children of God the way that you want God to remember. And write down on your little book, oh yeah, when someone said something mean, I really liked how they responded this way. So be mindful of the way that you respond to others, not because they deserve it, but because they are the child of God too. I love you.

Let me pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you remind us of who we are, that you remind us that we are yours and you love us so much and you want us to never forget that. Thank you for all your goodness and your mercy and your grace that you give us, Lord. Help us to be thoughtful of who we are and who others are as well so that we are kind and loving and respectful. Be with us always. In your sweet name we pray. Amen.

All right. Bye, boys and girls.