“You’re All My Favourites"
by Rev. Alexandra Robinson on July 02, 2025
I was recently cleaning out some shelves and found a children’s book I used to read to my children called “You’re All My Favourites.” In the story, three little baby bears are tucked into bed by their parents each night and told: “You’re the most wonderful baby bears in the whole wide world.” But as they grow, each baby bear starts to wonder if their siblings are more loved than they are.
The first baby bear wonders if the other two bears were loved more, because they had patches, and he didn’t.
The second baby bear wonders if the other two were loved more, because they were boys and she was a girl.
The third baby bear wonders if his siblings were loved more, because they were bigger than him.
So they ask their father – and his reply is perfect. He says that on the night they were born their mother said that:
The first baby bear was the most perfect first baby bear that anyone had ever seen.
The second baby bear was the most perfect second baby bear that anyone had ever seen.
The third baby bear was the most perfect third baby bear that anyone had ever seen.
As a parent of three children, this book was immediately appropriate because sibling rivalries stem in wondering who is the favorite. Children try to get the attention, affirmation or affection of a parent to be assured of how loved they are. What must I do to be the favorite, to win the attention of my parent, to be loved the most? I think the three little bears motivation is quite human, as most of us have experienced love by feeling like we must earn it, and live in fear of losing it. Love, we tell ourselves, can’t come just from being who I am – I must be the best or better than another! In other words, being the favorite comes from being the best – right? As our deepest human need is to be loved, we often look at all the ways we fall short of deserving love. We compare ourselves to others, feeling that someone else is better than we are and therefore more loved. And in this human condition we must wonder: how much our rivalries as worldwide brothers and sisters are fueled by a competition of being the best, based on seeking and longing for love?
And yet today, we hear the assurance all of us need in the book of 1 John 4 – we are called beloved children of God. We ALL are called beloved children. This is not a favoritism based
on what we have done or failed to do. There is nothing that earns God’s love or deserves God’s love. We are not favored because we are the best Christian disciple or Biblical expert, or the best at saying prayers. Beloved is simply who we are made and claimed to be – God says so. And when we think about that we realize – We are ALL God’s favorites.