I used to ask myself a lot when I was younger if God liked me. You’re probably wondering why a kid would ask that question. Well, my mom (sorry mom I still love you) used to say something a lot:

“Just because I have to love someone doesn’t mean I have to like them.”

Maybe you’ve heard that too. Maybe you’ve even said it yourself. Well, my little 10-year-old self used to wonder if God also felt that way. Let’s be honest for a second here. We all want to be liked. We may act like we don’t care, but we all want to know someone out there likes us. We want to know that people enjoy our company.

I felt like God had no choice but to love me. He created me so He kinda had to right? God loving me was great and all but I wanted to know that He liked me. It was easier to believe that He loved me than that He liked me. Maybe you find yourself asking that, too.

I think about Adam and Eve in the garden. God would go walk in the evening with them. He didn’t have to go to the garden to walk with them. He could have stayed in heaven and not worried about them. But He chose to spend time with them because He liked being with them.

And guess what? God likes you. He is genuinely interested in your life. He wants to spend time with you. He would take you to get ice cream and listen to you talk about your worries and your dreams and what you have to do tomorrow. He’ll sit on the end of your bed when you’ve had a bad day and tell you it’s all gonna be okay. He wants to know the little things. When it comes down to it, He just wants you. All of you. The messy and emotional and sometimes weird parts of you, too.

And even though you may think He has better things to do than listen to you or bigger problems to handle, you’re wrong. Because if God had to pick between you and His to-do list, He’d choose you every time. Every day, over and over again. Every. Single. Time.

He’s always choosing you. He’s always choosing me.

No matter how annoying or weird or unlikable I think I am sometimes. I am not another item on His to-do list. I am not a chore for Him. I am not His “problem”. I’m just simply… His.

I think He likes that.