"Why do people like my name?"

I'm nearing the end of my journal and bought a new one tonight. I decided to go back and read some of the one that I'm about to finish. I started it in the fall of 2003 and it's really neat to see the beginning stages of how I got to this crazy place where I am about to leave full-time youth ministry to go and sell insurance. As interesting as that may or may not be, that really isn't what I want to post here. The follow is from my journal, dated October 23, 2003:

"As I sit here drinking coffee and reading Romans at the Wegman's Cafe, I can't help but do what I do so well. I over hear a conversation. It's between a mom and her son, and as they catch a late lunch I can tell this boy is wise beyond his five or six years. It doesn't take long to hear where his wisdom comes from. He asks his mom, "Why do people like my name? It's just Br-ian." This is what his mom said, "It's not the name they like, it's the boy named Brian. 'Cause he's smart, he's funny, and they like to be around him." The love of his mom will take him far in this life."

I have been thinking so much lately about why it is that God loves us. I know that he doesn't love us because of what we do or don't do, but what does that really mean. I think this mom has a sense of it. God loves us because of who we are. He is the parent that knows how immensely gifted we are. Like Brian, maybe it's our humor or intellect, or it could be any number of things. The point is God sure likes being around us because of who we are. It seems that it would serve us well to try and figure out what it is that God sees when he looks at us.