One of These Things is Not Like the Others

~~ 1 Corinthians 12:27 (AMP) ~~  Now you [collectively] are Christ's body and [individually] you are members of it, each part severally and distinct [each with his own place and function].

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by Carley Cooper

Free Source Photo - No Copyrights Claimed by WM

There’s an old children’s song called “One of these things...”.  It was a Sesame Street favorite.  It goes “One of these things is not like the others.  One of these things doesn’t belong.  Can you tell which thing is not like the others? ”.  Everyone knows what it feels like to be the ‘odd ball’.  Each one of us is unique, most certainly, but more than that, everyone has been singled out as the different one at some point.  Some more than others.  Maybe you were the one person that neither team wanted.  The one who never got asked out on a date, or maybe you were laughed at or bullied.  I can relate to that.  They singled me out because I was painfully shy, tall and super skinny.

No one has ever accused me of being normal or being like everyone else.  I have two parents, two younger brothers, and I grew up in a house.  The similarities to anyone else, the ‘typical’ person’s life, or the character of others ends there.  When I was growing up being different this was the cross that I carried.  It was an overwhelmingly heavy load that I carried constantly.  All I wanted was to be accepted into a group; to be like them... validated, wanted and loved. 

Later in life I learned an important lesson.  That is, being unique can be a good thing.  This realization was huge for me.  Never before had I seen this concept or was I encouraged to ‘go with it’ and be myself.  Now, I embrace it.  OK, so that’s not 100% true.  Actually, I’m guessing that about 75% of me does.  The other part still longs to know what it would feel like to be like everyone else; to have what they have.  Things such as a spouse, children, a home of my own, someone to come home to, friends that they’ve bonded with at a deep level, the freedom to go anywhere they want at any time, the necessary skills to socialize and connect.  I have learned that I like being uniquely me.  To be like everyone else would make me just a cookie cutter stamp out.  I certainly wouldn’t want that. 

There’s so much that makes me unique that I have come to like very much.  I like my sense of humor.  I enjoy the freedom I have that allows me to express myself in my writing and in the way I dress; knowing that it’s nice but not boring, classy yet often sexy, usually a little dressy but with a free spirit.  I like it that I go to church and take my shoes off and leave then off, even when I go up to the prayer rail.  Hmmmm, I wonder if they’d consider handing out slippers at the door?!  Nah, never mind; I hate slippers.  Oh yeah; I also like it that my BFFs are guys.  I even like my quirks about not wanting to wash tea pots, and the fact that I hold a broom in an odd way when I’m sweeping (or so I’m told).  I like it that no one else in the whole world has the skills to be Carley as well as I can.  I’m not a really big believer in ‘you can’t know what it feels like until you’ve lived it’.  Unless I’m brain dead, I have an imagination and my emotions are very much connected to it.  That being said, I could never relate to people, for example, who want to change their hair or various body parts to look like a certain celebrity.  Why would I want Jennifer Aniston’s hair when I could have mine; even with the frustrations of having dry hair?!  Or why would I want implants to give me Jennifer Lopez’s butt when mine is better for me.  I’m not a big believer that bigger butt’s are sexier.  I just don’t see it.  Even when I was very overweight, I didn’t have a big one; and I like my butt the way it is!  I can honestly say that I don’t want to be anyone else, but me. 

However, there are things about me that I would still like to fix.  The problem is that I want to fix me according to my own definition of ‘fixed’.  I have a wish list as long as my arm for many things that range from body image to being more outgoing.  I wish I was thinner.   I wish I had a flat belly.  I wish I had bigger boobs (but implants are not gonna happen!).  I wish I was shorter.  I wish I had more ‘nerve’, spunk, and a freer spirit.  I wish the world could see the me that I see on the inside; the one who has never been let out because I don’t know how to let her out.    

Reality is a little different though.  The facts are that God wants to change me according to His perfect plan for me.  God wants me to be like Jesus.  The truth is that I have always been an outsider.  Not by choice; or so I believe, but a loner just the same.  I don’t know how to be the center in a ring of friends.  Maybe if I got to live on the ‘normal’ side of the fence I’d rather be where I am.  And the whole broom thing; personally, I say if it gets the job done, who cares how I hold it?!  Normal?!  What’s normal anyway?  By whose definition?     

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~~ Dear God ~~  Thank You for helping me through my abnormal-ness.  Thank You for making me unique.  Please help me to be the absolute best me that I can be.  Help me to embrace being me just as I am, and to forgive myself for my inadequacies.  Help me to let go of those people, situations, and circumstances that I cannot change.  Guide me to become more and more like Jesus every day.  In Jesus name, AMEN.

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This video should bring back memories for many of you! 

Sesame Street - One Of These Things - Letters and numbers

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