You’re My Favorite

The exchange would go like this.

My father and I would be somewhere, and in a moment of our banter, he would pause to say, you know Mary, You’re my favorite.

My dad’s announcement was usually met with some playful opposition. Dad, you mean I am your favorite daughter in the room with you now? I had, after all, three other well-accomplished and beautiful sisters. So, I had to limit the terms. You’re my favorite? It had to come with some boundaries.
But Dad would stick to his guns. You’re my favorite.

Now, sisters know how to corroborate, and we knew each of us had experienced this conversation.

HOWEVER

What I have now come to realize as a parent is that love doesn’t have limits. It is possible to say to each kid at least one at a time – You’re my favorite.

What does favorite mean? Favorite means preferred before all others of the same kind and regarded with special favor.

It could be too obvious to say that no two people are the same, even if they come from the same kind. But I am learning that being a favorite isn’t so much about me as it is about the one bestowing the status.

Maybe it’s why when I had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, it was my go-to line – I am God’s favorite. Even after one of the many surgeries, I could declare to my pastor, standing at the end of my bed, Guess what? I am still God’s favorite. Let’s consider the one who tells us we are preferred!

1 John 3:18-24

18-20  My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. 21-24  And friends, once that’s taken care of, and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us. (MSG)

For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
I am God’s favorite. You are God’s favorite. We are God’s favorite.