Different Enough

O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.

ISAIAH 64:8

THINK ABOUT YOUR BEST FRIEND or favorite person. Now imagine you were attached—literally—at the hip. Sleepovers every night! You’d eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together every single day. You’d never be apart! You’d probably begin to talk alike, look the same, wear the same clothes, and have similar habits. You might even start to think alike. That would be amazing!

Wouldn’t it?

Maybe not. If you were exactly like another person, that might get boring—even annoying—pretty quickly.

Often, we wish we could be more like someone else. Maybe we like and admire that person—and we begin to feel like we’re not good enough as we are. We want to act, look, or sound like that person instead of like ourselves.

But that’s not what God has planned. He never wanted a world full of people who were clones of each other—he wants us to be . . . us! He wants us to sound, look, smell, think, dress, and be different from everyone else. He likes the things about us that make us unique. In fact, he treasures those things. So don’t fall into the trap of wanting to be like someone else. Instead, love the person you are. Give yourself a high-five. You’re pretty cool—just the way God made you.

DO

Go outside and find a rock. Now, look for another rock that looks just like the first rock—the very closest imitation you can find.

Were you successful? How close are the two rocks? What’s different about them? How would it feel if every rock on earth looked exactly the same? Pretty boring, right? We love to examine the differences between rocks. That’s why people collect rocks, in fact—for their differences, not for what’s the same about them.

God went to the trouble to make rocks all different. How does this make you feel about the differences he made in you?

PRAY

Dear God,

Thank you for not making us all the same. Thank you giving me differences that set me apart from others. Please remind me to enjoy my differences and love the ways others are different from me. Amen.

READ

Psalm 139:13-18; Ephesians 2:10