They say there are about 7 other people in the world that look like you. I personally have been told I look like a young Demi Lovato, someone’s cousin, Adele, and other random people. While I’m extremely flattered because dang, some of my vocal “idols”..I mean DEMI??? (Yeah right but she’s so beautiful..but I’ll take it as a compliment)..I will never be identical to those people. No matter what I do, it is impossible to look just alike. There are makeup artists that do look-alikes of celebrities all the time, yet you can still spot a difference. People get plastic surgery to accomplish a better outer appearance, yet there’s always someone who notices a variance. Even identical twins are extremely close in genetic and physical makeup, yet if you get to know a pair, you can tell them apart. This is because there is something about them: they’re unique to themselves.
Think about a thumbprint. It will legitimately blow your mind if you think long enough. See, every persons thumb print since the beginning of time has been completely different from the rest. No one has ever had the same one. Ever. That’s just crazy to me! Not only are there over 7 billion people on the earth today, but there have been generations upon generations before us; yet, no two people could ever be identified as the same.
Thinking about all this made me realize something: why would I ever waste my time trying to be someone that I wasn’t if I could never accomplish this? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I do things the hard way before realizing there is even an easy way. I’m stubborn. So, this seemingly simple discovery took a conversation about thumbs to realize that I would never live up to that forced, fake, try-and-make-everyone-love-me version of myself that I wasn’t. I am a complex creature, but I was made perfectly in God’s image. Psalm 139 is one of my favorite passages of the Bible and it clearly states how well God knows us; He formed us in our mothers wombs, counts the hairs on our heads, and knows every thought and breath and step we take. He made a path for us to follow and he is our good Shepherd who will guide us when we go astray. That He would even take the time to come get us when we are lost, to leave the 99 to chase the one, is enough proof of His love. So why do we chase lives that aren’t ours, goals we can’t happily reach, and things that will never bring us joy if God lovingly made us so perfectly unique?
There was never a you before you. There was never a me. And there never will be again. It’s time to embrace the thumb print. Leaning in and listening is hard enough, let alone trusting what God says: That He has a plan, that we are made on purpose for a purpose. But it’s true! Shed the shadows you’ve been hiding in, the shoes you’ve been trying to fill, and the footsteps you’ve followed for so long. They aren’t yours! You are so beautifully unique. It’s time to embrace YOU! The closer you get to accepting yourself for yourself, the better you will like yourself…and the more people will probably like you too! We get so caught up in our insecurities and trying to people please that we don’t even realize most people aren’t interested because they can sense ingenuity. If we were all just real about ourselves, I can guarantee we would all love eachother much more. We don’t like copies; we want the original. Don’t be a phony copy that is worth $3 when you could be a sought after work that has no price tag. YOU ARE A PRICELESS WORK OF ART!!
So go introduce yourself to that figure in the mirror, take in the things you call flaws, and embrace the mess. If your thumbprint is unique, surely you are even more so. Don’t let the envy and pressure in this world dull that sparkle. Just be you.
