Weirdo
I was never made to fit in.
I was always by far the shortest in my class. (By many inches.) I was a child of the 80s, when big curly hair was perfect. Mine was thin and stick straight. (Thank you, perms, for seeing me through those rough years.) I went to college where I knew a total of one person before I started. I remember being in middle school and not being part of the cool-girls crowd. And it became my identity; I wasn't "normal." And I loved it. Weirdo.
I really had no choice; my parents are totally abnormal, too. Weirdos. They still get up 30 minutes--30 minutes!!--early every single morning so that they can just drink coffee and hang out with each other. They sit on the back porch, watch the birds, plan the day ahead, reflect on the day behind, and get their attentions focused on what really matters. I mean, who sacrifices sleep for such a silly thing? (Crazy talk, right? May have something to do with the fact that they just celebrated their 40th anniversary...) Weirdos.
Then I married quite possibly the weirdest guy you've ever met. He THRIVES in being not cool. He doesn't wear jeans. (Literally. Ever.) He has weird hobbies (beekeeping and radio control cars and chess and doing gainers into swimming holes, to name a few) and even weirder friends (whose stories deserve their own post). I remind him probably once a week how weird he is. He reminds me that I married him :)
And, of course, my kids are weird. My 4-year-old daughter loves to not match. She knows how to; but that's boring. She will wear a blue polka-dot skirt with a red flowered top and hot pink high-heeled shoes topped off with a boa-laced tiara. To go pick blueberries. My 6-year-old son is a loner like his mom and dad. Yesterday in Sunday school, the puppet team got all the kids up to do the Hokey Pokey. (Everyone loves the Hokey Pokey, right?!?!) Our son stayed in his chair. When my husband asked him why, he just said, "He didn't like the Hokey Pokey." Weirdo.
Then today I had a 15-minute phone conversation with one of my best friends and mentors. She's near 80 but if you talked to her you'd never know it. One of my favorite stories about her is that she used to frequent a bar near her home--not drinking a drop, but visiting with the "sweet young lady" who was the lunchtime bartender, sharing Jesus with her. She didn't give a flip who saw her going into and out of the bar. And when we talked today, she shared with me all the people who were in her life who were needy, fallen, sinful, and tiring. "I love it," she said, "that God still sends people into my life. I mean, can you imagine if I just played bridge all day?" Weirdo.
I'm not promoting being weird just for the sake of being weird. I'm saying this:
You are called to be weird, too.
I'm sorry if that bothers you. For some girls, the idea of being weird is the worst thing they can imagine. They want to fit in. They want to seem normal. They want to be cool.
But let me give you a little freedom, here: You can find a place where you fit in. Where you seem normal. Where you're a little cool. But you need to find weird people if you want to feel normal.
I started thinking about this whole weird thing when I read Hebrews 11 with fresh eyes the other day because I had never read it in the Amplified Bible. [Hebrews 11 is known as the Faith Hall of Fame, and is a Who's Who of Old Testament heroes.] As I read through the short bibliographies of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and more, I couldn't help but think, "I can only imagine what weirdos these men were." And I love that the only woman mentioned, Rahab, was willing to turn her back on her home city, Jericho, in order to pledge her allegiance to a God she didn't know. Who does that? A weirdo.
The weirdos of Hebrews 11 had their victories: they closed the mouths of lions, obtained promised blessings, "out of frailty and weakness won strength," and extinguished the power of raging fire. On the other hand, they also knew defeat: they were tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, sewn in two, oppressed...
"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY" (verse 38).
Weirdos. Who won and lost and lived and died and celebrated and mourned in a world that didn't deserve them. The world who persecuted them, killed them, tortured them, and who told they were weirdos.
The world was right.
Because the men and women in Hebrews 11 acknowledged that they were "strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth," (verse 13). THEY KNEW THEY WERE WEIRDOS. Not made for earth. Never fitting in here. Looking much more forward to eternity than earthly rewards.
Now, being a weirdo has its problems, namely, that "normal" people do not particularly like you. But God is not ashamed to be called your God (verse 16). He creatively and beautifully made the earth that man does not revere or protect. He created mankind in His image, who neither recognize or serve Him. He sent His only Son to die for men who would KILL HIM and continue to persecute His followers until He returns. God does everything backwards. He is mighty but made Himself small. He is holy but takes on our reproach. He knows we can't get to Him so He came to us through His Son.
Weird.
Embrace your weirdness. You were made for it.
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
I was always by far the shortest in my class. (By many inches.) I was a child of the 80s, when big curly hair was perfect. Mine was thin and stick straight. (Thank you, perms, for seeing me through those rough years.) I went to college where I knew a total of one person before I started. I remember being in middle school and not being part of the cool-girls crowd. And it became my identity; I wasn't "normal." And I loved it. Weirdo.
I really had no choice; my parents are totally abnormal, too. Weirdos. They still get up 30 minutes--30 minutes!!--early every single morning so that they can just drink coffee and hang out with each other. They sit on the back porch, watch the birds, plan the day ahead, reflect on the day behind, and get their attentions focused on what really matters. I mean, who sacrifices sleep for such a silly thing? (Crazy talk, right? May have something to do with the fact that they just celebrated their 40th anniversary...) Weirdos.
Then I married quite possibly the weirdest guy you've ever met. He THRIVES in being not cool. He doesn't wear jeans. (Literally. Ever.) He has weird hobbies (beekeeping and radio control cars and chess and doing gainers into swimming holes, to name a few) and even weirder friends (whose stories deserve their own post). I remind him probably once a week how weird he is. He reminds me that I married him :)
And, of course, my kids are weird. My 4-year-old daughter loves to not match. She knows how to; but that's boring. She will wear a blue polka-dot skirt with a red flowered top and hot pink high-heeled shoes topped off with a boa-laced tiara. To go pick blueberries. My 6-year-old son is a loner like his mom and dad. Yesterday in Sunday school, the puppet team got all the kids up to do the Hokey Pokey. (Everyone loves the Hokey Pokey, right?!?!) Our son stayed in his chair. When my husband asked him why, he just said, "He didn't like the Hokey Pokey." Weirdo.
Then today I had a 15-minute phone conversation with one of my best friends and mentors. She's near 80 but if you talked to her you'd never know it. One of my favorite stories about her is that she used to frequent a bar near her home--not drinking a drop, but visiting with the "sweet young lady" who was the lunchtime bartender, sharing Jesus with her. She didn't give a flip who saw her going into and out of the bar. And when we talked today, she shared with me all the people who were in her life who were needy, fallen, sinful, and tiring. "I love it," she said, "that God still sends people into my life. I mean, can you imagine if I just played bridge all day?" Weirdo.
I'm not promoting being weird just for the sake of being weird. I'm saying this:
You are called to be weird, too.
I'm sorry if that bothers you. For some girls, the idea of being weird is the worst thing they can imagine. They want to fit in. They want to seem normal. They want to be cool.
But let me give you a little freedom, here: You can find a place where you fit in. Where you seem normal. Where you're a little cool. But you need to find weird people if you want to feel normal.
I started thinking about this whole weird thing when I read Hebrews 11 with fresh eyes the other day because I had never read it in the Amplified Bible. [Hebrews 11 is known as the Faith Hall of Fame, and is a Who's Who of Old Testament heroes.] As I read through the short bibliographies of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and more, I couldn't help but think, "I can only imagine what weirdos these men were." And I love that the only woman mentioned, Rahab, was willing to turn her back on her home city, Jericho, in order to pledge her allegiance to a God she didn't know. Who does that? A weirdo.
The weirdos of Hebrews 11 had their victories: they closed the mouths of lions, obtained promised blessings, "out of frailty and weakness won strength," and extinguished the power of raging fire. On the other hand, they also knew defeat: they were tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, sewn in two, oppressed...
"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY" (verse 38).
Weirdos. Who won and lost and lived and died and celebrated and mourned in a world that didn't deserve them. The world who persecuted them, killed them, tortured them, and who told they were weirdos.
The world was right.
Because the men and women in Hebrews 11 acknowledged that they were "strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth," (verse 13). THEY KNEW THEY WERE WEIRDOS. Not made for earth. Never fitting in here. Looking much more forward to eternity than earthly rewards.
Now, being a weirdo has its problems, namely, that "normal" people do not particularly like you. But God is not ashamed to be called your God (verse 16). He creatively and beautifully made the earth that man does not revere or protect. He created mankind in His image, who neither recognize or serve Him. He sent His only Son to die for men who would KILL HIM and continue to persecute His followers until He returns. God does everything backwards. He is mighty but made Himself small. He is holy but takes on our reproach. He knows we can't get to Him so He came to us through His Son.
Weird.
Embrace your weirdness. You were made for it.
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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