Cherishing Our Differences

You weren’t an accident. You weren’t mass produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the earth by the Master Craftsman. ~Max Lucado


I had a girls day out planned with my daughters. It's seldom just the three of us, but it was the one "party" I wanted to have during Emily's university break. Melanie had a babysitter scheduled and the time was set. 

The trouble was -- the snow didn't get the memo! The air was bitter cold and it snowed and snowed. But that didn't stop us.  We just changed the destination and stayed in Muncie. There was no wait for a table at Olive Garden -- and sister chatter filled this momma's heart so full. 

My girls are so alike. And yet, they are so different. Melanie's creativity shows in her home and mothering. The bits and papers of scrapbooking drive her crazy, but she has every photograph in books, always up to date, with every event explained in writing. Melanie is like me in that she focuses on a task and gets it done quickly.

Emily is a lover of all things paper. This semester was project-driven and paper scraps floated on the air. Caldecott picture books were paired with teaching art projects, as well as projects for teaching the students under her care in this semester's practicum. Emily, like her father, can be easily distracted from a task, yet still gets things done in the end -- and accomplishes more in between the doing.

I treasure them both, celebrating their strengths individually. Reflecting on the fact there are ten years between them,  Emily was still playing with dolls when Melanie got married.  That decade is closing the gap as they age. Suddenly they are interested in the same things, raid each others' closets and swap hair products.

Genesis tells us about two brothers who were born to Lamech and Adah. Jabal was the first of those who raised livestock and lived in a tent. The other, Jubal, was the first to play the harp and flute. Their differences must have been celebrated for God to want them recorded.  

Like us -- sisters in Christ -- we are all so different in the eyes of God. Yet He celebrates us all!  One of us may love to clean, while another would rather cook. One leads, another offers behind-the-scenes prayers. One is a Martha, another a Mary. 


Peter's analogy of how how the church couldn't exist without our individual strengths encourages me. It's easy to wish we were one of our sisters.  But I believe God doesn't celebrate us when we try to be someone other than who He created us to be. This year I am going to try to be content to be me. Exactly who God intended me to be. To use the strengths to do more for Christ. It's my way of cherishing myself. 

There's going to be a lot of cherishing going on this year.

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