Stop for a moment this morning and say your own name quietly, the way God says it: with love, not with a reckoning. Then add slowly: You called me by name; I am Yours. Don't rush on; let it sink past the words, down to where the emptiness usually lives.

And during the day, when the feeling catches you that no one would miss you (over a message that never came, a cool glance, a lunch eaten alone), don't start arguing to yourself that you have value. Just remember this one sentence: I am His. And if you can, pass it on: let there be someone today whose name you speak with love, because they may be the very one who feels no one sees them.