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Tea Time Tuesday: Oxford: A Cup Of Tea
"Mama, why do I have brown eyes, Sarah has blue, Joel is tall, Nathan has freckles, you and Daddy don't look alike?"
My little one was landing on a profound truth — none of us is the same. We are all different. Each snow flake has its own design, each person their own fingerprints. God was trying to tell us something! He values uniqueness. He does not compare us to each other. He intended for us not to conform but to live into the freedom we each have to discover the ways that will best serve our own story in God's plan.
Your children, marriage, finances, and story will be uniquely different than anyone else you will ever meet. Why in the world do we attempt to follow formulas when we can see that our puzzles of life are so vastly different?
Each of us has a different life puzzle to assemble to bring order, to make sense out of all the pieces. The choices you make in the midst of your life journey do have eternal consequences.
You can throw the pieces at God in anger and say, "I do not like the life you have given me, and I refuse to live within these limitations with a humble heart. You have made me a victim and ruined my life. I will choose to live in darkness." If that is your choice, the puzzle of your life will remain fragmented and separated, with holes in the picture.
However, if you choose to bow your knee and submit to the varied circumstances of your life, God will bring His life, wisdom, and flourishing into that place. If you choose to trust, develop your integrity, and an inner standard of holiness that isn't dependent on cultural standards, the puzzle pieces will begin to come together. No matter what your limitations are — health issues, financial problems, a difficult marriage or divorce, a loss of friendship, death of a dream — your life is meant to be filled to the brim with the potential of God's blessings. But in order to thrive and heal, you must accept any limitations by faith, trust in His faithfulness each step of the way, and wait for His grace so you can live a faithful story right in the place you find yourself.
If you embrace your unique puzzle of life, you will find wholeness.