You Are Unique

When I was a child, I had a few tough years. We lived in a little tiny town. There were 23 kids in my class and I really didn't fit in with any of those girls. There was one 'clique' of girls that weren't terribly friendly with a few stragglers around the edges. There were a couple of other girls that just didn't fit in anywhere and there was me. I got along great with the boys, they didn't expect me to live by some strange 'girl' code and allowed me to just play games on the playground whenever I chose to do so. They competed with me academically without any jealousy and we had great fun together. Except ... that made the girls jealous as well. Oh, and then there was the whole 'your father is a preacher and you won't be in town that long anyway' thing going on. And by the way, your hair is curly and you don't fit in ... oh, and you're getting attention because you nearly died from a heart condition. Those were rough years for me. More often than not, I went home from school upset because they'd ganged up and made fun of me.

But, every time I encountered that garbage from those girls, I had a mother that would sit down with me and tell me how unique I was. She would remind me of the many talents that I had and that she and Dad were proud of me. She never allowed me to dumb myself down to fit in with them, but encouraged me to stay above the fray.

Her encouragement continued through the rest of her life. She always managed to tell me that I was unique, I was special, I was more than what the world thought of me.

I think many of us have either never had that person in our life or have managed to forget the words that were spoken to us like that. I know I that I managed to forget a lot of that after mom died.

The world has a tendency to beat us down, to tell us that we are nothing special, to remind us that we are common. We are constantly told that we can't do things and that information is reinforced when we make errors in judgment or make poor decisions regarding life decisions. We come to believe that we have gotten ourselves to a point in our lives where we can no longer lift our head out of the mire.

I heard from a friend this morning that, after waiting 15 years for a major breakthrough in his career, may be facing the most incredible period of his life. He'll be 59 this fall. He was done. He believed that he was just going to have to get a commonplace job so that he could afford to take his family into retirement. His unique qualifications and outlook in his field are finally going to be recognized and he has the potential to change the lives of millions of people in countries around the world. But, he was through believing all of that. He no longer heard someone tell him how special and incredibly brilliant he is. He no longer believed it.

While your talents and unique characteristics may not affect the world on such a profound basis, do you know how amazing you are? Do you have someone in your life that tells you over and over that you are special and talented, that you are unique and there is no one like you?

Or have you let the world tell you that you are common and boring, that you are destined to live a life of quiet desperation?

Throw those things off!

God did not call you to be bland, boring and lifeless. He has endowed each of us with His gifts and His life. To be anything less than His desire for our lives is to reject the gift of creation.

So, not only does God tell you every morning that you are special and unique to Him, I'm telling you ... you have a gift that you are to give this world. You are here because God needs you here. You are here because your life is incredible.