Phlox is my favorite spring flower! Its bright happy colors spread to cover the area surrounding it, sometimes even draping over rock walls. You can barely even see the green leaves under all of those flowers packed in together! It reminds me of the verse that says, “Love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
But then, I love the small, indomitable crocus that pops up out of the ground before any other flowers are even dreaming of spring, sometimes even as snow still blankets the ground after a long winter. It brings the promise of warmer days and balmy sunshine.
Oh, wait. I love forsythia, too! Bright yellow bushes looking like bundles of sunshine that brighten up the still-brown landscape just make me happy!
Oh, dear. I am in a dire dilemma. It seems that I have several favorites…how will I ever choose one? I haven’t even begun talking about daisies, periwinkles, and fragrant lilacs. I must admit that this should come as no surprise…I didn’t even choose a favorite color until I turned 40 (I chose pink, by the way).
Perhaps I have difficulty choosing an overall favorite flower because each flower has its own merits, and choosing only one would seem to lessen the value of the others. Each one is my favorite, for a different reason!
I think that’s how God sees you and me. You’re His favorite because you are unique, and there’s no one else in the past, present, or future who is exactly like you! He created you with a purpose and a plan, and He knows you inside and out. Psalm 139 says, “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me…You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” (139:1, 16-18). You are on God’s mind, and He is with you always. You are His favorite!
Now think of someone else. Who comes to mind first? What about them? They’re His favorite, too! Just as I can’t possibly pick a single favorite flower because each one is special in its own way, so God sees each of us as His special creation. He loves every single one of us more than we could ever imagine. John 3:16 says, “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.” He wants us to be with Him forever! You are extraordinary, and you are loved immensely. Do you believe it?
Lauri Hawley 