Being Different Is Good

12–15 minutes

Center · Stillness

Settle in

Put the phone down. Take one slow breath, and say: “God, I am here. Speak, I am listening.”

Read · The passage

Scripture

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:8, BSB

Learn · Reflection

Reflection

Being different does not mean being wrong. God made people with different ways of thinking, learning, and expressing themselves. Comparing yourself all the time can make you forget that there is purpose in your own way of seeing the world too. Some differences are not meant to be hidden; they are meant to be developed with confidence and wisdom.

Albert Einstein was not considered an outstanding student in his early years. In fact, some people thought he was a slow learner and would not go very far.

While others learned in more traditional ways, he saw the world in a different way. He asked different questions, thought deeply, and spent a lot of time imagining ideas that not everyone understood.

At times, feeling different may have led him to think there was something wrong with him.

Over time, however, what had seemed strange or out of the ordinary became part of what made him stand out.

Not everyone grows in the same way or learns in the same way. And that does not make anyone worth less.

Sometimes the differences that look strange today become great strengths later on. God does not create identical people. Variety is part of the beauty of his creation too.

Talk · Conversation

Talk about it

What is one way you think or learn that is different from most people around you?

Thank · Gratitude

Give thanks

Today I thank God that his thoughts are bigger than mine and that he does not make identical people.

Ask · Prayer

Pray together

God, thank you that your ways are higher than mine and that you did not make me like everyone else. Help me develop with confidence the things in me that seem different.

Begin · Application

Carry it into the day

Today, tell someone you admire a quality they have that nobody else in your group has.

Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible. Public domain (CC0)