10. You are Unique

Here’s a friendly reminder from our good friend Dr. Suess:

From the book Happy Birthday to You!

When I was a senior in high school, I began a spiritual formation program called Plan of Life. In the very beginning of this program, we learned five basic principles of life. The fifth was this:
God created us as unique individuals.

So often, it just seems so easy to compare myself to others, even to try to conform myself to others.

If I sang like her….If I played sports like him….If I were as smart as that guy or as humble as that one…..
Imagine what I could do…..Imagine what people would think…..
If I act the way he does when I do youth ministry, maybe the teens will think more highly of me.
If I get a “real” job, maybe my friends would think I’m more responsible.
If I do my hair the way she does and buy more “fashionable” clothes, or carry a purse instead of a backpack, maybe the men would find me more feminine and more attractive.
If I had a boyfriend, maybe they wouldn't think I was so weird.
If I become the woman he wants me to be, then he will want to be with me.

If I just do what I think you want me to do, you will like me more.

The truth is this: If I just do what I think you want me to do, I will not be happy with myself. If I am constantly wishing to be like someone else, then I have failed either to recognize or to appreciate the unique gifts God has given me.

It is good for me to recognize what is good in others and what others do well, and even perhaps to emulate them, but not at the expense of my own individuality. I may not work or do ministry like the next guy, but that's okay! We are different people. I do not have a high-paying job or a recognized career, but I do not need one. The mission God has given me is different. I may look plain and act goofy, but I am happy. And you know, if I am not the woman that this guy or that guy wants me to be, too bad. I would rather be the simple woman that I am until I find a man who loves me as I am.

God did not create me to become  like the person next to me, but to become more like myself.
We are all unique.
We all have different gifts.
We all have different tasks to fulfill.
We are all in a different place in our lives.
God did not create me on an assembly line, so why do I behave that way?
I bring something to the table which the person next to me does not: a different life experience, a distinctive skill set, a unique perspective. If I set that aside in favor of conformity and acceptance, I withhold from the world something truly beautiful.

 

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Marianne Williamson-