All my life, my mom has been telling me that I’m not the “typical kid”. In elementary school, I’d rather talk to the lunchroom supervisors instead of playing on the playground with my friends and classmates, and for this, I was threatened with disciplinary action if I didn’t “go play like a normal kid.” I knew that I was different.
In middle school, I didn’t have a whole lot of friends, so when most kids spent their summer nights going to birthday parties, and pool parties, and whatever else middle school kids do, while I was at home. The people I went to school with made me feel different by making fun of me because I wasn’t just like them. They made me feel like I wasn’t cool enough to hang out with. When kids came back to school from weekends and breaks talking about their time at the mall or at a sleepover, I knew that I was different.
In high school, I spent most of my weekday nights doing midweek programming at church. Tuesdays were spent teaching elementary school kids, Wednesdays were designated for my personal refueling with Jesus, and every other Thursday I was part of a planning committee for my high school youth group called Student Service Team. Sundays, obviously was church in the morning and my family has made the more than accurate point that I am usually the first one in, and the last one out of church. Everyone knew me, and I knew everyone. In fact, more people knew me than they knew my grandparents and parents and it was not long before my grandparents who had been there for 40 years were not known by their names, but rather “Emily’s grandparents” and “Emily’s Mom/Dad”. It was fantastic to feel like I had found my niche. It felt like I belonged somewhere. I loved church. Going to a public high school where there is more swearing than I was comfortable with, drug and alcohol usage, and weekly lunchroom theft and fist fights, I knew that my lifestyle was probably nothing like that of my classmates. When I would get upset for having to go to an orchestra concert and miss church, when I spent my summers doing mission work instead of working a summer job like the rest of my classmates, I knew I was different.
At Calvin, I didn’t feel so different! I had finally found a place that made me feel accepted. People treated each other with respect, the foundation of the college was firmly rooted in Faith and Jesus is the center of all that Calvin stands for, and the friends I made held the same beliefs. I was no longer the black sheep in the body of people I was in, rather I was a PART of it. I was a PART of something much bigger than I could have the capacity to realize. Through interactions with professors and friends, I realized that WE are all different than the rest of the world. We are part of a different group of society that believes that there is something bigger than us out there, that there is something else that we don’t have the capacity to understand until we get to Heaven and sit before God. I knew I was different, but I also learned that I was part of a body of believers, and that makes all of us different from the rest of the world who don’t believe in God. For the first time, I felt proud to be different.
When I graduated, I was no longer a part of the “Calvin Bubble”. I was out in the cold, dark world that is reality and trying to tell up from down. When I got a job, right away, I faced the painful reminder that I was different, and this time it was in a place that was so hard to be. No one was anything like the people were at Calvin. I didn’t realize I could feel more out of place than I did when I was in elementary school through high school. It’s possible. Retail is a different world. You encounter all sorts of people from the nicest people who are so appreciative of your help, to the people who are…let’s just say very hard to love in that moment because they can be so rude. When I found out that I was required to work Sundays, it felt wrong to work on that day, and I knew I was different than my coworkers. When I used my break time to attend Sunday morning church instead of using it to eat lunch, I knew that was different.
All of these different periods of my life have showed me time and time again that I AM different. Not many people I know these days would put their lives on hold for 11 months to go on a mission trip like this. I AM different and that’s ok! In middle school and high school, people are more concerned with fitting in rather than standing out because standing out got you a free pass to get made fun of and that happened a lot. I am different and that’s what makes me unique. We are all different from one another and that’s what makes us all unique. Not one of us is exactly like another person. God created us all in HIS image which means that there are 7 billion little pieces of Him walking around this Earth whether you believe in Him or not.
Yes, I am different, but in this chapter of my life, I’m proud to be different. I’m able to have an impact on someone else because I’m different than they are, and vice versa. We all have different perspectives, and I choose to use my life to try to make a difference in this world with it. If God is able to reach at least one person through me, then I’ve done my job, and hopefully, that person or persons will continue on to create a ripple effect. If God can reach one person through me, then I WANT to be different! I’m PROUD to be different!
So, yes, I am different, but I am a daughter of Christ, and that makes me unique. That makes me special. That makes me HIS and that means I BELONG to someone. I BELONG to the one who created me! This is true for you as well. You are a son/daughter of Christ! You BELONG to someone! You BELONG to the One who created you! With all our flaws and faults, He still claims us!
I could not be more proud to be different. I pray and challenge anyone who reads this to take that to be true for you as well. Think about all the times that you have felt like you were different or stood out, and look for God in that. If you don’t believe in God, then reach out to me. I would love to talk to you about Him and what He can do and has already done for you! I would love to pray with you and hear your story!
I challenge you to find what makes you different and unique and I challenge you to think of it as something that makes you special, rather than something that you fear to show.
Be different. I dare you.
