Hi You.

Maybe we’ve had a conversation or a thousand. Maybe we haven’t even met.

But today, as I pause and scroll back through photos from a recent garden walk, I find myself moving from delighting in the uniqueness of each flower to rejoicing in God’s wonderfully varied creation of people too. No two people—not even identical twins—are exactly alike. Each of us has our own thoughts and feelings, our own special ways of relating to God, our own habits and hopes and humor.

All this variety? It’s beautiful.

You, personally dreamed and hand-woven by the One who brought you into being, are beautiful.

All this beauty brings to mind another walk in the same garden half a dozen years ago.

I was marveling at the varied shades of green around me, the vibrant purple and gentle pink of the flowers, the magnificence of the aged redwood trees. I chatted with God, sharing my favorite findings of the day and saying to him, “You did a really incredible job of creation. Thank you for making all this beauty.” And then, since I had been sharing with him my favorites, I asked him, “What’s your favorite?” I expected him to pick the distant snow-capped mountains or the towering old redwood trees—something that seemed to reflect his power and majesty. Instead, I sensed him say, “You are.”

It’s one of those things I might have known in my head. It was after he created us, not mountains or trees, that his declaration, “It is good,” shifted to “It is very good.” We’re the parts of his creation who can walk with him in the garden, having a conversation with him about the beauty of the rest of his creation.

But it’s a really different experience to (maybe, a little bit) know something in your head than to hear your Creator express his delight in you directly, and it still warms and softens my heart when I think about it.

So pause with me, will you, friend? Let it sink in a bit if you can. God delights in us! In me! In you! He delights in each detail that he has carefully chosen and woven into you. He has made you beautiful.

Hallelujah!
Sing to GOD a brand-new song,
praise him in the company of all who love him. . . .
And why? Because GOD delights in his people. . . .

(Ps 149:1-4, The Message)