Jesus Lessons from a Toddler

I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time with my nephew lately due to busy schedules.  When I do see him, I stretch my arms out as wide as I can reach and say “Aunt Mere loves you THIIIISSSS much!”, or here lately since he’s a little older, I will ask him “How much does Aunt Mere love you?”  And since he was an infant, I have sang him his special made-up song (to the tune of Buffalo Gals) “Ryan is my favorite boy (x3), he’s Aunt Mere’s favorite boy”.   One day this week I picked up my nephew from daycare to take him home.  He was all excited to see Aunt Mere and hugged my neck tightly as I carried him to the car.  As I was buckling him into his car seat, I said “Hey, Ryan, I have a question for you.”  Before I could finish my statement and begin to ask my question, he stretched out his arms & says “TIISS much!” with a big grin on his face!  I told him he was right, I do love him that much!  Then while we were driving down the street, I looked into the rear-view mirror to find Ryan looking at me.  I said “Hey, Ryan, who’s Aunt Mere’s favorite boy?”  He smiled really big into the mirror & said “RYAN!!”

I realized that Ryan, as a 2 ½-year-old, has heard that Aunt Mere loves him “thiiiissss much” so many times that he doesn’t have any need to question it.  And he hasn’t just heard it, I do my best to show him that I love him.  And he’s heard since before he could speak that he is my favorite boy in the whole entire world, so he has no reason to doubt that he’s my favorite.

This is how it is with God.  I can boldly say that I’m His favorite one, His chosen one, His beloved because He’s told me so frequently of His great love for me.  Now, yes, He’s God, so He can have more than one favorite…that’s how God works.  But I’m important to Him.  He tells me this in His Word.  I hear His voice in times of prayer and worship.  He died on the cross for ME!  That’s how important I am to Him, He laid down His life for me!

So, I will take my cue from Ryan.  The next time someone asks me how I know I’m not being presumptuous of God’s love for me, or arrogant for singing that I’m “His favorite one”, I’ll just let them know it’s because He’s told me so many times and showed me in so many ways that I cannot believe anything to the contrary!