We All Just Want To be Unique

What’s so unique about being unique if everyone else wants to be unique?

Since starting college something I’ve noticed about people in general is that we all desire to be “unique”. We all desire for people to look at us and see something original, whether that be in the way we dress, in the obscure indie band we listen to, or in the books/poetry we read etc.…I could go on and on about all the different ways we think we are being original, but in reality there is nothing original about making up some self-image that you probably stole from some other “unique” person. This “originality” we like to think we have probably didn’t even originate with us in the first place.

The only way to be TRULY ORIGINAL is to be YOU! God only made one of you. Let’s be real here, God could have easily made all of us the same. He could have made us with the same appearance, the same hearts, the same talents, the same laugh, the same smile, the same sense of humor, but he didn’t. He knew that when he created each of us individually that some how all of our unique qualities as humans could some how fit together to love him and to love others.  And what an adventure this life is getting to know and experience people for who God truly made them.

There is no other person on the face of the entire earth or in the entire universe that is EXACTLY like you. Now that is what I call original. God made us to be ourselves and to share ourselves the way he created us, not in the way we’ve created ourselves to be. God knew what he was doing when he made you, and there is something deeply unique and beautiful about every single person. It’s unfortunate that we don’t get to see that in most people because we are overly concerned about trying to be someone we’re not and how others perceive us.

If you think about it, it’s just plain ridiculous to feel self-conscious and to hide who we truly are. I also imagine God must be sort of insulted when we think the way he created us isn’t good enough. Imagine how much more enjoyable life would be if we all just accepted ourselves for who we are, even if other people don’t. I’m aware that accepting ourselves is certainly no easy process. I believe that self-image is where Satan has one of the biggest footholds in most peoples’ lives. It makes sense. One of the best books I’ve ever read called Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge (which everyone needs to read by the way) puts this so clearly. Satan was an angel and he was in fact BEAUTIFUL. Upon his betrayal of God he lost all that was beautiful about him, so it makes sense why he attacks our beauty. He HATES that we are beautiful and he isn’t. So really, the reason we don’t feel beautiful and don’t realize the true beauty God has created in each of us is in fact BECAUSE WE ARE BEAUTIFUL. Such a crazy thought, but so incredibly true. Satan makes us feel like we aren’t beautiful, because he hates how beautiful we actually are. He has to find a way to convince us that the beauty God created us with never existed and that we have no beauty to unveil. How sad, but true. Fighting this battle of where our worth and value comes from is a lifelong struggle, but thankfully we have the creator of beauty on our side!

Think about someone in your life who seems to understand the concept that their beauty and worth as a person comes from God. There is something attractive about a person who knows who they are in Christ. By attractive I don’t mean physically attractive. I mean attractive like the stars on a clear night attract our eyes. There is something so mysterious and different about the sky that we could look at it for hours just desiring to see beyond the surface. In the same way people who truly know with their heart that they have been created in God’s image and that in and of itself makes them good enough, is one of the most attractive qualities a person can have.  These are also the kind of people who are the most unique/original. They have found their true identity in Christ and have realized that since God doesn’t make duplicates they have a purpose. Someday, I hope to be one of these people. Not so I can pride myself in how “unique” I am, but so I can glorify God in who he made me to be.

Anyway, I could write on this topic forever, but because I’m probably just rambling at this point I wont do that. Instead I’ll end this with a very fitting Dr. Seuss quote.

“You are you. This is truer than true. There is no one alive who is more youer than you!” –Dr. Seuss

Psalm 139

    For the choir director: A psalm of David.

 ¹ O LORD, you have examined my heart
      and know everything about me.
 ² You know when I sit down or stand up.
      You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
 ³ You see me when I travel
      and when I rest at home.
      You know everything I do.
 ⁴ You know what I am going to say
      even before I say it, LORD.
 ⁵ You go before me and follow me.
      You place your hand of blessing on my head.
 ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
      too great for me to understand!

 ⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
      I can never get away from your presence!
 ⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
      if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.
 ⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
      if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
 ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
      and your strength will support me.
 ¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
      and the light around me to become night—
    ¹² but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
   To you the night shines as bright as day.
      Darkness and light are the same to you.

 ¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
      and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 ¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
      Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
 ¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
      as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
 ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
      Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
   Every moment was laid out
      before a single day had passed.

 ¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b]O God.
      They cannot be numbered!
 ¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
      they outnumber the grains of sand!
   And when I wake up,
      you are still with me!

 ¹⁹ O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
      Get out of my life, you murderers!
 ²⁰ They blaspheme you;
      your enemies misuse your name.
 ²¹ O LORD, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
      Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
 ²² Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
      for your enemies are my enemies.

 ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
      test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 ²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
      and lead me along the path of everlasting life.