Known Before You Were Named

Before your mother chose the syllables of your name, before the hour of your birth or the hour of your conception, before any word was said about who you would be or become —

He knew you.

Not as a file. Not as a record in a larger record. Not as a component of a plan that was really about something else.

As a person.

As the specific, irreducible, still-being-made person you have always been and are still becoming.

You have spent years trying to be known: by the right people, in the right rooms, through the right achievements.

You have also spent years being afraid of being known: too much, too difficult, too inconsistent to deserve the full attention of anyone.

Both of these are true and neither of them changes what was always already true:

He knew you before you were anything and He has not stopped knowing you for a single moment since.

You do not have to become knowable.

You already are.