If the flowers you draw don’t look like anyone else’s, that’s good.
-- Cynthia Copeland Lewis, “Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me”

Folks say you move to your own beat; that the drum you dance to was created especially for you. You have your own way about you, and it’s indefinable and exceptional. You are a breath of fresh and innovative air; your spirit is the only one of its kind. You are cut from fabric that’s no longer in stock, and, because you know the predictable, familiar, and often stale life that exists inside the box, you choose to think and live outside of it. As a matter of fact, there’s not a box within miles of where you’re stationed.

Though some wish you were more conventional, more orthodox and obedient, you know if you tried, it’d still come off as unruly and rebellious, perhaps looking something like an orange Boubou on Wall Street. You relish in your uncommonness and take pleasure in making each day something out of the ordinary. You’re a forward-thinking ground-breaker, usually well ahead of others as you journey through life. You flow freely and fluently, with the expectation that good things will come your way. But, some think you’re eccentric, peculiar, even flaky and far-out.

But didn’t they say the same things about Jesus? Wasn’t He too much for most folks to believe and digest? The people who followed the law, those who lived in the box and were afraid to believe anything different could exist to replace the old rules, never ceased calling Jesus a peculiar nonconformist. Jesus went about undoing, removing, and pulling apart just about everything people had always believed, freely going from city to city to show and do a new thing, fluently speaking the way He wanted and acting the way He felt best; even telling people (in so many words) if they kept pooh-poohing Him, He wasn’t going to take them to the place where they could get their own extraordinariness. While on earth, Jesus was uncommon, cut from His own cloth, rebellious, and so far-out, when they tried to kill Him, he ascended to the sky to live forever. As far as unconventional goes, Jesus is the Brotha to top!

So, you’re in good company. And what better company could you want? Be as uncommon and as different as you will. And if your flowers should ever begin to look like anybody else’s, consider painting stars.

Sadiqqa © 2007