| Read Colossians 3:12–14 God has chosen each of us to walk in love and show patience and compassion. You Are MineNothing about my birth—or yours—was random or accidental. I was born for this time—and so were you. We were each chosen for a particular, cosmically important task that can be done by no one else. We need to be diligent in listening to God's voice calling us to that task—and in encouraging others to be similarly obedient. That means that we can no longer overlook the grocery clerk at the checkout stand or the downcast person we pass on the street. Instead, we should choose to recognize their value, and call out their worth. It means caring enough to help the mom at preschool whose child won't come when called, loving enough to offer a word of cheer or humor to the receptionist at the doctor's office struggling to answer phones and still respond to every question at the counter. It means thanking the garbage man lifting bins at the curb, and recognizing the God-made-and-paid-for-soul in every person we encounter throughout the day. But we won't—we can't—help others know they matter unless we first recognize how much God loves and chooses each of us. And that's a challenge we must face inside. One day I was shocked to learn that I had been adopted. My mum wasn't really my mum. But then I asked her about the day she got the call from the hospital that I had been born. How had she felt? What expectations had she had? Her eyes lit up. With enthusiasm, she explained that she and Dad were desperately hoping for a girl, since they already had a son. But there were no sonograms back then to reveal whether you were having a boy or a girl. Mum was very close to her sister, who had four boys of her own and also hoped for a girl, so they would chat often about names and dreams for me. One day my aunt suggested, "Why not Christine?" "I like that," my mum said. And so the decision was made over a cup of tea. There was nothing deep or spiritual in that decision—they just both liked the name Christine. Yet I know that my name, Christine, is derived from the Greek and Latin and means Christ follower. And the Christ I follow has given me another name, too—a name by which he calls me. And he calls you and others by that same name—a simple name; one word; just four letters, like love—that rings loudly through time and space because you have been chosen before time, He calls us: Mine. Point to PonderGod says, "You are mine." He has chosen you. Can you hear him calling? You matter to him and you always will. | 
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