Watching football / getting a manicure. Attending formal black tie dinners / sitting on the floor with my back propped against the couch while eating pizza. Gleaning wisdom from the older generation / gleaning wisdom from the younger generation. Talking to friends / listening to strangers (and accepting them as friends). Elegant order and design / eclectic, sentimental spontaneity—just because. Accepting items / living experiences. Modern colors / weathered antiques. Speaking to crowds / giggling with children.

These are a few of my favorite things.

While it might sound carefree and free-spirited to have a life that is literally a study in contrasts, it always bothered me that my interests were so vast and variable. I wanted to be one of those people who had a specific style, a talent at which I excelled, a home that I lived in for more than ten years, a “thing” for which I was well-known.

Then I realized that God gave me vast interests, skills at which I was good (not great), experiences in many different small towns and large cities, and friends and acquaintances that encompass all of them. Without those interests, skills, and experiences, my world would be so small, for I wouldn’t have met and interacted with so many amazing, everyday, spectacular leaders and followers in my lifetime…so far!

Occasionally, I try to make it a point to take time to tell my friends and associates how blessed I am to know them and to share my gratitude for their impact on my life.

Yet, as one who is sincere and generous with her gratitude and praise, I confess that sometimes it’s nice to hear that in return. (I’ve never done the “love language” thing that some of my friends are talking about, but I think that’s mine—if that even is one; if not, they should add it!) But it can’t be mustered up. The spoken word has to be genuine to matter. And today, I received exactly that. But it wasn’t in the form that you might think. It was in eight amazing words that reminded me that there is a CONSTANT in the midst of everything else that is changing:

“He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” —Deuteronomy 31:6, 8, NLT

He made me. He knows me. He cares. He gets it. He’s invested in me. He won’t fail me. He won’t abandon me. He loves me unconditionally. He’s the Constant in a life filled with contrasts and changes.

And suddenly, these unchanging truths became my new favorite things.

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