I sat down at the breakfast table, oversized mug of coffee in my hands. Déjà vu, I said out loud to the piles of laundry, the meal making, the messes I swear I cleaned just yesterday. Today was a new day, yet it felt old. It was a new morning, but it felt inconsequential, insignificant somehow. Does any of this matter? Am I really making a difference?

I opened my Bible to the story of the widow and her two copper coins (Luke 21:1-4). She gave all she had, yet her offering was miniscule in the eyes of the world. Compared to the rich, she gave nearly nothing. Compared to those in high positions, those famous and known, she was nothing. Then I read Jesus’ words, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them” (Luke 21:3). More than all? How can this be?

Then I heard a gentle whisper come in my heart. Vuja de.

Vuja de? I had to look it up. It means the opposite of déjà vu. It means “like nothing you’ve ever seen or felt before.” Instantly, I knew what Jesus was challenging me to do. He was asking me see this day as something new, to see the significance He brought to the mundane. With Him, I could believe that value exists even in things this world calls simple, ordinary, and valueless. After all, Jesus didn’t come to this earth in flashy pomp and circumstance for a reason. He came in a manger. He came as a lowly baby in the womb of a poor young woman because He wants each of us to know we matter. Each ordinary day matters. And each task we do, no matter how small, it matters too.

Therefore, whatever you have to do today, even if it’s a mountain of laundry or a sink full of dirty dishes, know that God sees you. Whatever seems overfamiliar to you or worth little in your eyes, try viewing it instead as your two cents. Let it be your offering to the Lord. As you do, hear Jesus’ words say, “more than all of them.” Let Him speak His truth over you and remember. God doesn’t measure your worth like the world does. You’re priceless. You’re made new in His sight. He’s a ‘vuja de’ God, after all.

*First published by The Joyful Life Magazine.