365 Project Day 301: Different

Canon 5D Mark ll, 70-200 2.8L, 180mm focal length, 6.3 aperture, 1/30 shutter, 250 ISO. I used a tripod to prevent camera shake at a lower shutter speed and a remote to get the shot.

I am different.

I am the little girl who dawdled, walking with shoes untied and flowers in her hands. I am the one who got my dress dirty as soon as my mother put it on me, because I couldn’t resist the mud puddle at the end of the driveway. Sitting in the summer dirt is still one of my favorite things. I am still that little girl, but now I live in a grown-up world that doesn’t seem to appreciate these behaviors. I sometimes wonder if I will ever catch up, to be on time, to be the grown-up I expect myself to be.

Will I ever fit in exactly right?

I get caught up, marveling. I lose all track of time when the sun hits a certain place on the horizon, casting her glow across the earth. I am spellbound. And when light streams in and  shimmers on rain-soaked leaves after a storm? I am all in, lost in the moment.  When I hear the high pitched giggle of a child in a crowd, or see the chubby legs of a toddler trying to keep up with the stride of her daddy, what then? Time slows and I have lost my place in the book somehow. Where was I? Everything, all things beautiful must be held, captured, shared. “Did you see that?” I often ask whomever is close enough to hear.

But sometimes I hear people joking about these tendencies. They laugh, probably not in a critical way, but I still cringe just a little. Am I so different? Is my dress dirty from my puddle sitting? Did I embarrass someone or myself by my inability to stay focused on the things at hand? I feel self-conscious and wonder if I will ever fit in.

I run to my Father who made me this way.

He comforts me. There is grace for me in Him. If He made me this way, then it must be good. He tells me to shine. Always shine and never hide.

I know some of you are hiding too, afraid your differences will cause you to stand out. Go ahead and stand out. Shine. I look forward to seeing your brilliant light coming out from the shadows and the world will never be the same.

Shine.

Isaiah 60:1 ~”Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.”

 

“Why are you trying to fit in when you were born to stand out?” ~   What A Girl Wants