Create Value Anywhere
A few years ago, God shifted my direction in work and ministry. I had begun to limit my thinking to specific jobs and life trajectories. As our family left California in the middle of 2020, I looked at possibilities for earning income to provide for my family.
Coming from ministry jobs with a master’s in theology, I naturally looked for pastoral roles. My heart was tired, but I wanted to do something with purpose.
It was in this season that my perspective of what I could do began to shift. My possibilities began to open up in how I saw my options for work and creating income. Though it was not how I’d envisioned my life going, I was moving in a direction of growth and opportunity that has continued to morph and develop as our family tries to walk faithfully before God.
With the partnership of a supportive friend, we started a business in our living room while still mostly isolated from the COVID-19 pandemic. With calls on speakerphone and endless searching and reading of blog posts on how to form a business, we created an entity with some ideas and dreams.
Not all of the dreams came true (surely not as fast as I’d expected them), but our business has found moderate success and been able to provide for our family. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to jump out and try something new—something that is limited by me and my performance, not a boss or organization.
All along the way, I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome.
Merriam Webster defines imposter syndrome as “a psychological condition that is characterized by persistent doubt concerning one's abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one's ongoing success.” That is a pretty accurate statement about where I’ve been existing in the world of business.
I feel like a fraud, faker or novice that doesn’t deserve the opportunities I’ve been given. I often don’t feel like I offer enough through my work to deserve pay. But is that true? How do I judge what value I create?
Lies pour in and I begin to feel worthless. I’d have a bad week or three and begin to wonder what I’m doing. Whether being devalued by others or devaluing ourselves while comparing to others, we all feel undervalued at times.
I come back to the question, What value do I bring to the world?
How do we become valuable people to the world around us?
On one hand, I want to bring value because that earns income. However, as I’ve learned, earning income exceeding the value you create is a lousy feeling. I want to bring as much value as I can to my world. I appreciate being compensated for my work.
I want to become a value-creating human, but I'm up against my own negative inertia and some problems in our world.
People Steal Value, Consume Value and Devalue.
At this point in my life, I believe that to work is to create value. In the Christian (and Jewish) origin story, humans were created by God to work and tend a garden… before brokenness entered the world. I take that to mean that work is a morally-neutral, core human function. After sin entered the world, work was cursed, so that the ground was hard, thorns were interspersed, and work required sweat. Work is no walk in the park anymore.
Creating value can be complicated too. Some people take shortcuts (well, most of us at some time or another). We can steal value that others have created. You could publish words that you didn’t write, which we call plagiarism. You can take goods you didn’t purchase, which we call stealing.
Say I work hard for a few months to earn enough money to purchase a bicycle so I can make my commute to work easier. I finally trade my money for the value that the bicycle brings me—it’s a happy transaction. But then, two weeks later, someone breaks my bike lock and steals the bicycle I worked hard for. I’d be crushed. They received the valued bicycle but without the work to create value necessary to have it. I however am left having lost a valued possession and my net worth not reflecting what I worked honestly for.
Humans can also consume more value than they create. Many of us like to judge but would love to be a trust-fund kid, living off an inheritance we didn’t have to work for. But something doesn’t sit right about someone who only consumes value in this life. We would hope that someone with basic necessities covered would still contribute to the world by using educational opportunities to research solutions to the world’s problems. We would hope they create beautiful art with their time or write novel words of poetry. Consuming food, energy and shelter while only using time to consume movies and media is no way to live.
Another resistor to creating value is being devalued.
Creativity faces many critics.
Some critics, out of their own insecurities, will tear down the work of others with their words and behaviors to feel better about themselves. We cannot get hung up on someone else’s psychological issues when we are pursuing how we are to create value in the world.
In our journey to be creators of value, we cannot steal work, disproportionately consume value or be brought down by detractors. We need a helpful source of creative energy.
God Values You.
I don’t say this lightly, because I am trying to preach this message to myself. Your value—your inner worth—is valuable because God values you. Christianity teaches that men and women are made in God’s image. We carry a valuable inherent in our being.
Beginning with our inherent value is a powerful place to begin to see the value we can create.
In the face of persecution, Jesus tells his followers, “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).
Worth. Inherent value. Being loved.
Massive are the immaterial benefits of being humans valued by our God.
When I look at my sons and watch them play, I find much joy and pleasure in who they are. They are smart, handsome, curious, fast and strong. I’m proud of them. I value them infinitely without them ever doing a thing for me. They are mine. I love them and enjoy seeing their joy.
My story as a child of God is similar. I had nothing to offer him, but he loved me and wanted the best for me. John 3:16 makes a familiar but powerful statement: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
While offering nothing, I’m valued. From my value before God, I want to create value for my world. I’m trying different things, from giving focused attention to my sons and respectfully replying to emails in a timely manner. Part of how I’m creating value is to share with you, right now, how much you are valued.
I’m on a journey to explore who I am, what I do best, where I create maximum value and when I should take certain risks. The journey is terrifying, exhilarating, and full of hope. Thank you for joining me on it.