My seven siblings and I have what we call our “favorite” argument.
We call it that for two reasons – one, it’s our favorite argument, and two, it’s about who was our dad’s favorite.
Nancy says it was her because she was the firstborn, and everyone knows the firstborn is the favorite.
Gale says it was her because the kid you love the most is the one who’s having trouble, and since she claims to have had more trouble in her life than the rest of us have had, she feels she’s obviously been the favorite.
Diana argues that Daddy’s nick name for her proves that she was the favorite. Why would you call your daughter “Pie Face” unless she was your favorite??
Curly (Darrell) was the firstborn son…
Nick was the one who really got into Daddy’s logging and trucking and heavy equipment…
Russ was the one that followed Dad’s lead with accounting…
Debby was the baby, and everyone knows the baby is the favorite…
I am actually the seventh in the line-up, showing up in between Russ and Debby, and I like to remind my siblings that seven is the perfect number. This doesn’t seem to have convinced my siblings of anything, but I think it’s pretty compelling. On top of that, my dad once bought me a MOTORCYCLE. Granted, it was just a little Honda 90 (that I named Zelda), but this argument usually gets to my brothers, because he didn’t ever buy them motorcycles of any kind or even let them buy their own. (If you knew my brothers, you’d understand the wisdom here.)
Once, just for some variety, we argued about who was mother’s favorite, which she found highly entertaining. We’re a rather boisterous group when we’re all together like that, and the stories and laughter occupied us for a couple of hours. The next time we all got together, Diana and Gale had T-shirts for each of which said “Mom likes me best” and a sweatshirt for my mother that said “Mom”. Yes, we took pictures!
“I had spent my life knowing I was Daddy’s favorite,” reveals Nancy. “At his funeral, I realized each one of us knew we were his favorite.”
As I think about it, my (fairly cranky) grandmother had observed the phenomenon long before we recognized it. “I’ve never, in my entire life, seen EIGHT ‘only’ children!” I heard her complain one day. “You’re all SPOILED ROTTEN!” I don’t think she meant it as a compliment, but I rather liked the idea. Eight favorites! I’m cool with that!
And as a parent, I get it. I only have two kids, but each one is my favorite. They are VERY different from each other, but I love each one as fully as if he/she were the only one. It doesn’t take both of them having the same great need at the very same time to get my attention – it just takes ONE of them having a need, whether it’s simple or complex, a delight to meet, or soul stretching. Ever since the day they were born, I have known that if it ever actually came down to it, I would give up my very life for either one of them, no thought needed. I wouldn’t say, “Well, if both of them would benefit…” No! Only one of them would need me to do it.
I have a little tiny glimpse, then, of how it is that the following thought from Ellen White can be possible: “The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son.” Steps to Christ, page 100
Pretty cool to think about, isn’t it? I’m God’s favorite!
And so are you.
Questions: With God’s love so abundantly clear in Scripture, all around us in nature, in our hymns, in countless devotional writings, in His amazing work and presence in each life… Why do so many people struggle with feeling and believing that God doesn’t really love them? Have you struggled over this? Do you “get it” now? What is the best way to help people with this? What has helped (or hindered) you?
Very well done my sweet Sister. When I grow up I want to be just like you! It was great being an only among seven others; never lonely!!