Listen

You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. My bones weren’t hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened. God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! Their total number is countless! If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand! If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you.

Psalm 139:13-18

Think

When you were younger, did you ever make an art project of which you were so proud? Surely your loved ones were proud, too. They may have even displayed such a masterpiece on the fridge at home. Or maybe they tucked it in a box as a keepsake, something to help you remember a special moment later in life.

When we revisit these creations, they often pale in comparison to how we remember them – they’re not quite as beautiful, complete, or fine as we thought. But these special jewels are ours and, therefore, perfect – including any “flaws.” Nothing can diminish how dear these beloved creations are.

God thinks of us, God loves us, the way we treasure our favorite creations. From before we were born, God has been molding us and putting us on display for the world to see how beautiful, complete, and fine we are. If only we could remember in the moments when we feel low just how proud God is to have made each of us.

Daniel Potter

Pray

You see me like your finest creation, O God. Help me to borrow that understanding of who I am. Only when I understand how well loved I am might I share that gift freely with those around me. Thank you for making me beautiful, complete, and fine. Amen.

Go

The Creator of the Cosmos, the one who formed all that was or is or will be, is the same God who breathed breath into you, the one who knit you together, the one who knows you best, and the one who calls you.

Know this gift more deeply today, and share it as freely as you received it: You are called and known.