From our earliest moments, we have been compared, and while a comparison is not terribly horrible, we can (if we are not careful) become so caught up in BEING SO MUCH LIKE ANOTHER THAT WE FORGET TO BECOME OUR OWN SELF.

Sadly, I am most guilty of saying to a new mother, “Oh my, the baby looks just like _________,” when (in reality), the baby may have certain features common to another person (such as brown eyes and black hair color), but still look uniquely different.  My beautiful niece, Taylor, just reminded me the other day how most babies really DON’T LOOK LIKE OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS, BUT HOW WE (ADULTS) JUST SEEM TO ENJOY SEARCHING FOR A BABY’S COMPARISON TO PARENTS, SIBLINGS, GRANDPARENTS, AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS.

Truthfully, Taylor is so right!!!!!

We do seem to enjoy comparing ourselves to others and also comparing babies to those who came before their lives even began.

AND, our comparison toward others never ends.  Unfortunately, we are even guilty of searching for ways to become JUST LIKE OTHERS. We may practice walking like others, talking like them, acting just as they act, or even reacting like we “think” the others would react.

As a child, we lived 300 miles north of where we currently call home, and our summer vacations were memorable because we would pile into our car and endure the seven-hour journey south.  There were (at that time) six of us in my family (dad, mom, and four kids), and since this was at the beginning of the age of seatbelts, (when we were known to “unhook” our seatbelts), then this was also the time when part of our journey south included mom creating beds for each of us to enjoy as we traveled all those miles south.  My youngest sister was given a sun-bed in the back window (the place above the back seat in the back window).  My brother was given the backseat floor bed as his pallet, and that left the back seat for my older sister and me to stretch out our legs in opposite directions.  The most difficult decision she and I had to make was who would stretch her legs on the outside or inside of the seat OR if we would just get along and intertwine our legs as we rode the journey south to my dad’s parents’ home.

Now, I share this information to make this singular point—-As we traveled for all those hours, we were given the opportunity to “prepare” for our summer vacation, and my older sister was a master of preparation.  I often remember her now famous words, “Nancy, you don’t say it right,” whenever she would give me a sentence to practice speaking.  She was adamant that we would not “SOUND” as if we were not from the place we were going.  She so wanted us to SOUND as if we lived our “new here” that we were going for our brief week of days.

Yes, my older sister was quite the teacher, and I was quite the pupil (I am sure). 

The southern sounding words coming from my mouth did not at all sound like the words rolling out her mouth, and practice as I may, never did I ever “sound” as if I belonged.   Always……I sounded as if I came from some other place than the place we were about to visit for our weeklong summer holiday.  Truthfully, I am sure I most frustrated my older sister as she tried over and over and over to “tutor” me and “fashion” me into the person I needed to become for the days we were going to enjoy at my grandma and grandpa’s house. 

Each one of us has been so guilty of looking for similarities of others we know & even of finding similarities between ourselves and others.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  This “look-alike” comparison is not totally wrong, and truthfully, it can be fun to look like, act like, and be like those great people in our families who we walk behind as we take our place within this world.

As an adult, thankfully, I have taught high school for enough school years that I have been blessed to personally teach siblings & (can you believe it) parents and their children!!!!

Yes, I have taught that long.

One of the largest blessings of my career has come when I was given the opportunity to teach one person and then years later teach another who is closely related to the one I previously taught.

I have taught sibling brothers and sibling sisters (3 young men and women) so similar, yet so blessedly different.  &

I have taught mothers and then their sons and daughters, so similar, yet so blessedly different.

Most Wonderfully, as a high school teacher, my students have also TAUGHT me so much over the years, and one important lesson they have taught me is the fact that we (every person alive) have a uniqueness that is distinct to none other.

HOWEVER,

What if we were so set upon the task of BEING so much like another person who came before us that we could never BECOME the PERSON GOD CREATED US TO BE?!!!

The LORD created us uniquely special, and HE wonderfully crafted us to be just like——–Our Own Selves!

And that’s really okay.

To be just like our own selves.

To be unique.

To be special.

To be You, like no other person can ever dream of being You.

To be excited to be You.

To be so You, that others remember the unique qualities only You can display.

To be You so well that others may even aspire to be “like” You.  &

To be perfectly happy during your time on earth walking with Yourself and You live out Your Present and Future Days.

The Bible tells us how God purposefully forms us.

—-“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

And before you were born I consecrated you;

I have appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Now, if you have studied Jeremiah, then you know he was called to serve God at an early age, and because he was so youthful when he was called to become God’s mouthpiece to the nations, Jeremiah struggled with feelings of inadequacy.  I love the next few verses (after verse 5) because they remind us how God always promises to go with us whenever and wherever HE sends us or to whatever HE asks us to do (in His name).

You.

You are Just Like You…..&

That’s Exactly How You Should Be.

WHY?

The Bible also explains that to us in Isaiah (and in other Scripture) how God purposefully forms us.

—-“But now, O LORD, You are our Father,

We are the clay, and You our potter;

And all of us are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64: 8)

God has created each one of us to become just ONE THING……HIS!!!!

As we grow up and begin to understand our need for God, our need to become His, then we also learn to seek how to know God more as we become fashioned into His Image, the only comparison we will EVER NEED!!!

What an awesome privilege it is to become HIS.

What an awesome privilege it is to become part of HIS WORK here on earth.

What an awesome privilege it is to become more and more and more and more…..like God’s Son Jesus…..as we walk with God’s Holy Spirit…..as we walk toward our eternal home.

What an awesome privilege, INDEED!!!

And so, let us be content to be JUST AS WE ARE, EXACTLY HOW WE WERE CREATED BY GOD’S HANDS TO BE.

And so, let us remember Jesus’ words to Philip and Andrew,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” (John  12: 24-26)

And so, let us remember that we are just as we should be when we die to ourselves and live for God.

And so, let us love ourselves as God keeps us to life eternal.

And finally, let us serve God as we follow God, going where He sends us, doing as He leads us to do; being as He leads us to be.

And, That’s Exactly Where & How WE SHOULD EVER WISH TO BE!!!