I Know Adilyn- Learning From Adi

Individual Worth
I have one daughter.  This is a picture of her. I love her so deeply that there is no possible way to convey it in words. I would do anything to help her learn and grow and be happy.  She is currently my only child.  I know her very well. In fact, because she is only 1 year old, I know her better than she knows herself. I know her full name, her birthday, and that she has a pelvic kidney that needs medicine in the mornings because of urinary reflex   Most of the time I even know her needs before she does. I know when she needs a nap, and though she'll likely fight me about it, once she sleeps, she feels better.  I know when she'll be hungry next even though she doesn't know it.  That is because she is my child. She is still growing and learning.  Shes learning about the world around her, about herself, about me, and our relationship.

 Even if I had two daughters, or three, or nine, I would know all of them. I would know their names and which food they liked. I would know their birthdays, their favorite colors, their hobbies. I would know their needs.  

I don't know how many daughters (or sons) God has, but I do know that he knows all of their names, their wants, and their needs. Not only does he know them, but he cares.  When I know my daughter is hungry, I don't ignore her. I don't tell her to get it herself. She is a child- I help her. I get the milk to her. I give her graham crackers and goldfish. God has given us earthly parents to provide for our temporal needs. Although many of these parents are not doing their job, God still has given them a stewardship over this. However, he has remained the primary source of our spiritual needs. When we are spiritually hungry, he gives us spiritual nourishment. He know when we will become spiritual hungry and so he has given us scriptures to guide us through life.

It is silly to think that I would forget about my daughter just because I have other children.  It's true that we are not an only child to God; he has many many children. But just because there are so many, doesn't mean he cares less about them.  It is overwhelming to think that everyone is a child of God, but we are.  That means he knows us and love us. That means that we are individuals to him.  I have individual worth to God.  This concept is something that I know to be true because time after time I recognize God blessing me and helping me with trials both large and small.

In the scriptures there are several times when the prophets have been taught of the intimate basis on which God knew them. Often he would call them by name.  I've shared some examples below.

Joseph Smith History   http://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.1-26?lang=eng

Psalm 8:4  4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

Jeremiah 1:  5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sactified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the  nations. 

John 13:  34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye  love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also  love one another.

D&C 18:10  Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

Abraham1:  22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

 23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

I am so grateful to have a loving Heavenly Father who knows and cares about me on an individual level. He cares about my small trials of losing my keys and my big trials of losing my grandmother.  I don't know how he does it, but I know that God loves and hears each of his children in their formal prayers and in their silent moments of mild frustration to sincere desperation.  
This quote by C.S. Lewis  is one that I have always loved.  It's not scripture, but it is profound.

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

I think we need to adopt this same attitude with how we view and treat ourselves as well as others. We are children of God. He knows us. He loves us.

We are God's children, still growing and learning about ourselves, the world around us, Him, and Our relationship.