Beyond Normal

“You’re not normal.” The anesthetist had known me all of twenty minutes and this is what she had to say. When my regular doctor joined the party, I told him what the she had said. “Oh, I could have told them that,” was his sympathetic reply.

All of this was going on in the delivery room as I was giving birth to the newest addition to our family, a healthy baby boy. I have always known I was unique and I have always skipped along to the beat of my own drummer, but the comments made me wonder just how off I must be. The doctor had only known me a total of seven months.

It is one thing when YOU consider yourself different. Those of you who may know me know that I am not embarrassed by my abnormality. There is just something different when perfect strangers are out shouting it in the street just how different you are.

I have been told that I am a “little off.” I have been told that I am unusual, an individual, and even weird, and that is just to my face. I like to think of myself as unique. I walk to a different beat or maybe it is just everyone else that is off.

The more the doctors’ comments ran through my head, the more I contemplated normal. How many truly normal people do I know? For that matter, what exactly is normal? Webster’s defines normal as standard, average, or usual. For me, normal has always been about following the trends or the crowd. Normal is to be like everyone or everything else.

There have been very few moments in my life when I did things the way everyone else did. Call it my signature, if you like. I did not just dare to be different; I was determined to be different. Growing up, and even now, I have always had pride in the fact that I was “not quite right.”

It was during bible study that I came across the perfect verse. Our study question was “What kind of people does God desire us to be?” The answer is in Titus 2:14. We are called to be a peculiar people. The pastor looked right at me, “you’ve got that one down,” he smiled. I am peculiar. And as I got to looking around, I found there are a lot of us peculiar people walking around. We seem to gravitate to one another.

It has only added fuel to my fire to find out about the support I have for my uniqueness. It was like a bolt of lightning to read in the scripture that I am called to be peculiar (different, set apart). This is something that I not only can do but can often excel at doing.

With the word of God backing me up, I have attempted at times to be even more off center. My habits and ideas have changed as I have grown and learned and experienced more. Change can be scary for some people, even when it is changes in others. More than one friend or family member has shied away from my walk. I am even more peculiar because their actions and attitudes do not hinder my continued journey.

Despite my changes, and even though I am working hard each day to be more like Christ in every aspect of my life, I am still “unique in all the world.” That makes me even more peculiar.

I am not different because I do not want to be like other people. I am not different to cause a stir. I AM different because I step out each day trying to be like my Father. Walking in the steps that He left for me makes me different from others around me. His steps do NOT give way to trends, times, things, or people.

I have also noticed that God has strategically placed us peculiar folks throughout His church. There does not seem to be too many of us in one location. I am not sure if that is because we are needed at so many different locations, or because a whole building of us might scare folks. Either way, we are out there.

With so many striving to walk in His steps, little clones should be running about. That is another part of the uniqueness that is this Walk. No two paths are the same. His purpose for me and His path for me are specific to me. I am just that special to Him. Instead of a bunch of clones wandering about, there are a bunch of odd, peculiar, unique individuals reflecting the glory of their Father.

Join us. All it requires is for you to be a bit off from the world’s standards. Take God at His word. Let Him work things out for you. Come on, you know you want to try it. God desires us to not just stand out, but to stand above. You are called to be Peculiar.

This post has been featured on CrossRoads as part of the Christian Carnival CCCXVI. Stop in and check out the other fun, informative and interesting posts that were included.