The Twenty Dollar Bill Story

 A well known speaker started his talk by holding up a $20 bill.  "Who would like this $20 bill he asked the people in the audience?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you here today, but first, let me do this."

He then crumpled the 20 dollar bill up and asked, "Who wants it now?" Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "what if I do this?" He dropped it on the floor and started to grind it into the floor with his shoes. He picked it up, now all crumpled up and dirty. 

"Now, who wants it?"  Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped to our knees, crumpled up, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless, but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled up or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who care about you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by, Who We Are.