The new Quotable Values recently distributed should not have greatly surprised us. Bev and I had already set the asking price for our home well below the 2010 QV. But we still got a shock when the 2013 Valuation arrived.
Friends around town have experienced much greater “losses” than ours. For some like us, it means an immediate threat to a good and quick sale. For others, it is a bit of a technicality—they may even have some optimism that their rates will come down as a result. For others again, who have recently taken on mortgages based on 2010 prices, hard times may lie ahead, especially when interest rates rise.
I guess the QV is a metaphor for ourselves. We place a high value on our capacity to enjoy life to the full. But suddenly we may find a kind of “de-valuation” has been going on in our very being. An unanticipated failing in the physical or mental system, the advent of a serious disease, and we can realise that life is changed forever.
With the property QV, we can appeal, argue, plead, even pay for another professional valuation. But where our life is concerned, the Christian story reminds us of something a little different.
The Gospel story assures us that we have personal worth far above the things we own. This worth is not linked to personal convenience, comfort, success, happiness, enjoyment and certainly not material prosperity—not even the very home we live in.
Even in hard times, we need to try to live by that kind of conviction.
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