I Heard It on the Radio - “Even Trade”

I Heard It on the Radio - “Even Trade”

WHAT DO YOU THINK you’re worth?

I realized my monetary value on a schoolyard at the tender age of six.

My best friend, Casey, a boy who, if I’d understood the concept of a boyfriend would have been my “steady,” traded me during recess to a classmate for a pocketknife. Sam, the recipient of his new prize (me), proudly announced the trade to the entire class as we lined up to go back to our studies. I was furious.

With hands on my hips and pigtails waving madly, I caused quite a stir as I set both boys straight—I was not to be traded! It came as a shock to the young lads that I didn’t belong to either of them. They could work it out between themselves as to who was now the rightful owner of that stupid pocketknife. But under no condition did I consider this an even trade. Not only did I believe I was worth more than a trinket bought at the five-and-dime, I believed I deserved a seat at the bargaining table.

In his song “Even Trade,”^a songwriter and poet Terence Martin sings of a few things that we indirectly trade, like a string of cloudless days for a refreshing rain shower or sundown for the promise of another day. “You can call it an even trade,” he sings.

As I consider the trade my heavenly Father made for my soul, I am humbled. Not a rusty old pocketknife for an innocent pigtailed girl, but the life of his only Son for a woman who sins.

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I guess I knew from the get-go that I was adored, treasured, and wanted. But not until today did I realize my value and true worth.

^a Terence Martin, “Even Trade,” © Terence Martin, 2008.