Daddy's Favorite
Many years ago, as my siblings and I were cleaning out my grandmother’s house (on my daddy’s side), I casually, yet admittedly was puffed up with pride as I mentioned that I had been Granny’s favorite. After all, I carried her name. I held my head higher as I self-proclaimed my prominence in the family.
Much to my surprise, my eldest sibling responded that he had been Granny’s favorite; he was, after all, the exalted first born of the clan.
“No”, another sibling spoke up by claiming the “Favored One” position by virtue of being the firstborn granddaughter.
Across the room, we all shared our stories, as we came to the realization that our grandmother had convinced each of us individually that we were her favorite. How had she managed to do this? What a miracle this had been in our troubled lives. We unwound the mystery by discovering that Granny would whisper to each individual to make sure that none of the other ones knew that “we were the favorite.” So, after a visit to Granny’s, we would arrive home, each relishing that THEY were the favored child, each one holding their secret deep in their heart, feeling a sense of pride and joy of knowing and BELIEVING they held the favorite status in Granny’s heart, NEVER guessing her loving secret.
How we managed to keep this secret for decades is anybody’s guess. I now believe that we kept the secret to ourselves all those years, holding onto that special love, that deep, unconditional, abiding love for those moments when we most needed to feel deeply in our hearts unconditional and comforting love. God put our precious grandmother in the lives of my cousins, siblings and me, abused and battered little souls, who felt so unwanted, so unloved. He waited so patiently for us to come to understand that we were not just Granny‘s favorite; we were His. And we STILL and FOREVER will be HIS favorite.
Remember, it was the great Saint Augustine, who spoke such wise words, that our hearts are restless until they rest in thee. When you grow up in a loveless house, love is hard to find. Love seems to hide from you. Love does not feel real. So God gave us Granny till we could find the Love of All Love and rest, finally rest from all the pain.
We all need to feel as unique and special as Granny made her grandchildren feel. Many times our human experience does not open up the self sacrificial love that we ALL crave. But God, in His infinite, mysterious, and miraculous wisdom, gave us the ultimate sacrificial and eternal love. He knows that His creations are empty without Him. So God became man; God came TO us and walked among us. He came, in the flesh, so we can love Him, the God of ALL creation, like a daddy. A real daddy. A daddy that real people saw, real people touched, real people hugged. He loved us to be REAL among us. God loves us like a loving DADDY!
Like a good daddy, God gave us free will. As much as He loves us, God/Daddy knows that we have to accept the love that He offers freely. We ALL need His individual love, and He offers this love freely, giving each of us the individual attention we selfishly demand, without EVER neglecting the needs of the whole. He died to show us this love. He died for you. He died for me. He died freely, by His free will. What a daddy!
God shows love through the Trinity which is one of the great miracles and mysteries of all. How can one God be three? As Christians, we intuitively accept the divine nature acting in three persons. We don’t need to unravel this mystery. It IS beyond our comprehension, but the mystery of the Trinity is real. The Trinity is both a mystery and a miracle showing God‘s divine majesty and his hidden mysterious nature at the same time.
It is easier for us to understand this mystery if we visualize the Almighty as a human: a man, a husband, and a daddy all at the same time.
Further, it is a great miracle to accept, as a mystery, that God IS our Father, our Savior, and our Hope all wrapped up in One, acting in our life to love, teach us, and guide us. He is there, as for Augustine, waiting while we wander on our wayward paths as individuals and as a collective whole. Finally, when we turn our hearts to God and fall in love with Him, we can accept Him with the unconditional love that He shows us. Like the love that Granny showed to her grandchildren. God becomes our Daddy, Papa, Abba, and we become His favorite child!
Do you feel that you are “Daddy’s” favorite? My earnest desire is that you do! I pray that you don’t just “feel” that you are his favorite, but you also BELIEVE this TRUTH! I pray that ALL come to this TRUTH: Jesus has room in His heart to love all of us as individuals and to make each individual feel that we are uniquely His favorite.
Do you feel that the Lord Jesus loves YOU as His favorite? He does!
You ARE Daddy’s favorite! We ALL are! What a mystery!
Do you feel deep in your brokenness that you are worthy of Daddy’s Unconditional love? You ARE!
Do you want to be eternally happy and I mean happy and joyful an eternity? Just accept Daddy’s love.
Run into Daddy’s arms! Give Daddy’s all your pain. Let Daddy pat you on the back and tell you the past doesn’t matter, only the future does.
Again, the greatest miracle and mystery of salvation is that God/Daddy Himself came to earth, born of a woman to be born into our heart, and that He chose to live AND die for each one of us as individuals, and as a whole. He proved this love by rising from the dead so that we could have eternal life in his love.
I mean, who doesn’t wanna be loved like that!!!
What an absolutely perfect God/Daddy we have!! The One True God, King of the Universe who has claimed you as his child. May He put a crown of a victory on your head today as you claim yourself as His BELOVED daughter or son.
And what a joy it was that day for my siblings and myself on a sad day of cleaning out the house to realize that we were, and had been, and forever would be both individually AND collectively all our grandmother‘s favorite. What a miracle and a mystery!
…just remember, that I am Papa’s favorite…
Okay, okay, you are, too!
If you feel so inclined, drop a great story on why you are God‘s favorite.
Can you imagine how beautiful these stories will be to share to people who are in search of God’s love?