favorite things...

When I was a little girl, my favorite things were so simple…I loved wearing pigtails, running around outside…barefoot… all summer long. Mama taught me to swim, and helped me overcome my fear of the diving board. I loved staying all day at the pool and diving deep into the water ; feeling the refreshing coolness as my hands cut through the water over and over again until I was so tired… I would fall asleep on my towel in front of the kitchen (while the aroma of supper danced in the air)…the sound of cartoons playing somewhere in the background.  

Then as a young girl, my favorite things were different.  I loved to spend hours reading and imagining myself as the characters in the fairytales I read…the princess or the heroine…I loved ballet class, following and imitating the steps of my dance teacher. I loved riding my bike to the store and taking my granddad’s glass Coca-Cola bottles to the Piggly Wiggly and getting the deposit for the glass…just meager change- but so fun that he would let my brother and me keep the money and  go to the local dime store to buy grape bubble gum. I loved shoes and fashion and curling my hair, playing dress up… and I had posters (of the current teen heart-throb) on my wall and began listening to records all day. (we are talking vinyl here of course)

The high school girl version of me went through a myriad of different favorites, but all matching the typical teenage standard…music, friends, not flunking algebra. There was definitely a shift in the core of my girlhood attachments. I began to be more concerned about the opinion of my peers and was heavily influenced by the culture I was immersing myself in. But the reality was that inside was mostly still little girl pigtails, princess stories and ballet class, while the outside reflected big hair, blue mascara, and 80’s fad fashions and sometimes…a punk rock rebel attitude. I began to want to make my own way without really knowing what that all meant and often wound up trying to fill a void with things that don’t matter…but at the time...those things became my favorites. Most of all, I just wanted to be accepted, to be a part of something…to be loved.

The majority of girls that age tend towards a trend that begins in an innocent mind and often emerges due to the influence of the culture and the growing need to belong.  The more we try to fit, the more we find we are wandering lost and the favorite things of girlhood are forfeited for the allure of acceptance. In the end, there is only ONE whose acceptance matters most, and that acceptance was bought with a most valuable price. It was always there, even when we didn’t notice.  Jesus died and paid a debt we are completely unable to pay and His love is supreme, no other love and acceptance can ever compare. Belonging to Christ is the only real belonging and the greatest love a girl can ever know. The fellowship and sisterhood of believers is more excellent than anything we experience when following the crowd into groups or cliques we might think we have true community with.  Jesus sees those who are called His own as treasured, beloved, adored, cherished….

Belonging to Him…my Favorite.

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 1 Corinthians 1:21-22

Oh Lord, may those You have saved and call Your own treasure their existence in You, and cherish the promise of salvation and belonging to You.