“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!” Psalms 139:17, 18

It was a busy week…actually, they are always busy. We settled in for our GFC monthly staff meeting and Pastor Dale was up to share for a few moments. He read the scripture above and then he showed a picture of a beach. He said that he Googled how many grains of sand are in a cup. According to Google, there are between 3 – 5 million grains of sand in a cup. He said, “Look at this picture. How many cups are there on this beach. Take it out further. How many grains of sands are in the state of Florida. Take it further – all of North America? Around the world? (Honestly, he had me at Florida…but it was an amazing picture). He said, “that is how much God is thinking of you.” He went on to different thoughts but when it was over and I was reviewing my notes, that one line just hit me straight up. How often is God thinking about me?

I am pretty literal when it comes to things in the Bible. I do believe that Jonah could live in the belly of a fish for 3 days and that Jesus could miraculously turn a couple of fish and bread into a feast for the thousands. So, could God be thinking of me that much? In my literal mind, it would mean that he would be thinking of me all the time. He would have to be so tuned into my thoughts, emotions, feelings, frustrations, victories, challenges and accomplishments that he could actually put me in the “crosshairs” of his attention. He would have to focus in on where I have been, where I am now and where my path is leading me. He would have to construct a purpose and a will for my life that He could form and instill the desire in me to go after it. He would have to love me a lot because I make mistakes all the time. So, forgiveness will have to be part of those thoughts. He will have to add grace, mercy, compassion and understanding when my words and thoughts don’t line up with what He knows is true. He will have to think about me from afar when I need the space to acknowledge Him and he can’t just “make it happen for me.” It is going to cost him something for Him to think about me that much…maybe even something dear to Him so he can think about me in the context of a personal relationship.

In writing this, I took a break and scooped up a handful of sand in my yard. As I let it sift through my fingers, I thought, “Oh how He thinks about you and me.”