Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)

I’m different. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I know we’re all unique. (And since unique means ‘one of a kind’, well then, how can there be a ‘different’—since there is no ‘normal’, nor ‘standard’?)

But I’m really different.

It’s quite nearly every single thing that could possible be ‘different’.

Allow me to list a few examples:

• I love cold and dark weather.
• The contents of my pockets are opposite from most everyone else I know.
• I drink tea, not coffee.
• All alcohol is offensive to me. (Aside from rubbing alcohol, I suppose…)
• I tend to fit the female “profile” more than the male (too many ways to list in this format)
• I prefer books over movies.
• I like audio over video.
• I don’t even get “fads” or “trends” (especially in clothes, but really in all things)
• I home school my kids.
• I am in Jesus, and his church, but I do not align myself with any “named” organization you’d think of as “church”.
• I don’t vote any party line.
• I can’t be not real. I think “can’t” might actually be accurate.
• I really care nothing for money.
• I also care nothing for fame. (In fact, I’d rather not have any particular attention paid to me.)

I’m not completely a freak. I mean… I do like NHL hockey (there are a handful of people who are in that boat with me), I have a Facebook account (again, not in the minority there), and I’m a huge Buffalo Bills fan.

Oh yeah… that one should probably go in that list above… 🙂

SO, I am not sure why God decided to make me his prime example of the Opposite World, but there must be some design in it. He calls me (along with all of you) his “masterpiece”, so …

The good thing is, it kinda matches Jesus.

The greatest of all is the servant of all? Lose your life to gain it? Turn the other cheek? He who is without sin cast the first stone?

Yeah. That kind of opposite.

Maybe we’re meant to be at least a little opposite. Are there ways you feel “opposite”, or backwards, or different, or strangely unique? If not … are there ways you wish you were, and are just afraid of what other people might think if they knew you were “strangely unique”?

Jesus didn’t seem to care about what other people thought of him.

Except one time.

His disciples were telling him that people were talking about him. They were saying he was the reincarnation of their favorite prophet, looking for some way to label him.

Jesus probably nodded, taking in what they were saying, and then he turned their story back to them with a simple question: “Who do you say that I am?”

Maybe in that question we can hear that it doesn’t really matter what other people think. It matters what you think.

God definitely made me “different”. But you are, too. You are unique. There’s something about you that he loves more than any of his other creations.

It’s the “you” part.

I’d wager I’m not the only one living in Opposite World. For some reason it frequently becomes obvious just how blatantly opposite I am, but I know I’m not alone.

In whatever way you are you … be that. Live it. Enjoy it.

There’s always plenty of room here in Opposite World!