He was sitting at the table next to us at dinner. His back faced me and I noticed the side crinkles in his eyes as he looked at his daughter seated to the right of him. His little girl looked about the age of five, wearing pig tails as she held up white noodles in her fingers. I noticed her Frozen backpack hanging on her chair. The father was chuckling at his daughter as he took the noodles from her hand. He then placed a gentle kiss on her head. As she was eating, I saw him stroke her pig tails. It was endearing to see and I found myself unable to look away.

I had an epiphany that night at dinner; this is the way God sees us and how we are to come before God. We are to be as little children before Him, in awe at the wonders that He does in our lives—including the tiniest of details. “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these.” Matthew 19:14

We can be as children and laugh and hold up things in our hands with a curious attitude towards God. He will either take it away from our hands as He kisses our heads, or He’ll give us even more. God is loving and kind and slow to anger.

I needed to remember this as I looked at this father and his little girl. I felt in some greater way, that God was telling me that this is how He sees me. It’s so easy to forget all of the noble and lovely characteristics of God. “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” Psalm 103:8 Why is it so easy to brush over this in our daily lives? Sometimes our circumstances can gloss our eyes to the true beauty of God.

He loves me. He adores me. He sees the purity in me even when I can’t see it in myself. He sees the innocence in my soul—something that I once believed only became distorted as I grew older. I don’t think life as complicated as I once did. It’s so much simpler and beautiful this way; the way that God sees me as He strokes my hair and kisses my head. It happens every single day.

There is a reason He wants to remind us of His character, and I believe it has everything to do with abiding more in Him. He wants us to grow to a higher level of intimacy with Him and that isn’t possible if we don’t come before Him with a sense of awe and curiosity. We are able to learn more about the God we love if we come before Him with a humble and quiet spirit.

The father continued to lavish love on his little girl all throughout dinner. It left a warm sensation in my heart that night. Is it possible for God to be so intimate and tangible with us? Yes. He pours out His love in so many miraculously sacred ways. I know millions of people have stories of how He shows up in their lives. It’s a beautiful thing—how God shows an endless supply of love to us—even in a restaurant where a father and a little girl will never know how they blessed the young woman sitting behind them. I will always remember the father’s face as he looked down at his little girl and will hold strong to the faith that God sees me that way too… with a crinkle in His eye and a smile to his lips.

We can’t distort God’s perception of us with the way that we perceive ourselves; instead, let’s infiltrate His perception into our perception until the day He seats us beside Him.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1