God Chose You

Sometimes, I get a feeling when I sense God's presence in my life, which is pretty often if I am paying attention and my awareness is not being clouded by worry or busyness.  

It's a feeling that somehow I am seen and known, and I also have another feeling that is more difficult to articulate: the feeling of being chosen. 

I don't mean "chosen" in the sense that I am somehow more special than anyone else, but that I have been claimed by God in some way that is beyond me, and that chosenness is simply a by-product of a love I can't understand. 

Each of us has that claim upon us, whether we choose to believe it or not.  

Many of us struggle to understand what it means that God chooses us and is for us, not against us.  

Sadly, some of us struggle with this our whole lives.  We never fully realize how much we are loved by a God whose very essence is love and who, through love, chooses us repeatedly.  

There's this beautiful line from Kristin White's book The Chaos of Stars that reads: 

And I'd choose you; 
In a hundred lifetimes, 
In a hundred worlds, 
In any version of reality, 
I'd find you and I'd choose you.  

If you ever want to see a movie that tells the story exemplified in this quote, watch Everything, Everywhere All At Once, which won about a zillion awards a couple of years ago.  

The film's basic premise is that true love, which doesn't fade and can't be explained away, crosses time, reality, and even other versions of us in other versions of history. 

That's the kind of chosenness that I sometimes feel when I realize just how known I am by God.  

And it doesn't take much to make me realize this. It could be seeing a sign on the side of the road at just the right moment that makes me laugh or running into an old friend in a strange place where I would have never dreamed of seeing them.  

It could also be a word from a stranger, a heartbreaking song on the radio, or a surprise gift from a friend that brings joy.  

I'm slowly learning that those kinds of moments are happening all around me, and all I have to do is keep my eyes and heart open to experience them.  

Do you expect to experience God, or are you surprised by it when you do?  Maybe you do your best to expect God to reach out to you somehow, but you are still surprised when it happens. 

I know that I still get surprised by these feelings.  For years, I believed I wasn't worth God's time, but now I've come to see it differently.  God doesn't hold back God's presence; we do.  God doesn't withhold love; we do.  

We have come to believe those feelings happen to others but not to us.  

But why not us?  We say that we want to believe in a loving God, but we have come to think that we're not worthy of that love or have somehow become so broken that we can't experience it.  

Try this today: Be intentional about looking for evidence of God's presence around you all day.  Give it a day, and then think about what you experienced.  Journal about it if it helps. 

Most of all, remind yourself that you are worth God's time because God not only created you but is all around you and within you.  Pray for awareness, and let go of all the negative self-talk you might be tempted to say to yourself.  

Then, wait to see what happens.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.