My son Timmy’s 4th birthday is fast approaching, and he can’t wait. If I had a dollar for every time he’s asked, “Is it my birthday yet?” I’d have a lot of money. Recently, my daughter Jessica turned 8, and Timmy was upset. “Why isn’t it my birthday yet?” he asked. Then, yesterday, when I was getting a gift bag out of the hall closet to put my godson’s birthday present in, Timmy saw the back and suggested, “Let’s get my birthday started!”
But my favorite comment of all was when he said, “I’m going to tell you what I want for my party. I want a helicopter, and I will want some of my own clowns, please.”
Later, as we were looking at Paw Patrol cakes online so he could choose one for me to make for him, he abruptly changed the theme of his party to construction vehicles. And the next day, he told me he wanted waffles for his party.
Apparently, this is supposed to be a party with construction-themed paper goods for decorations, with clowns for entertainment, and with waffles for refreshments.
It’s a theme I never would have thought of.
But you know what? It works for Timmy. Timmy doesn’t care that clowns and waffles have nothing to do with each other, much less with bulldozers. All he knows is that those three things are what he wants at his party.
Clowns. Waffles. Bulldozers.
I think there’s a lesson to be learned here. And I think it’s one we all need to take to heart.
Timmy is a little boy who likes lots of different things. He’s not afraid to be himself and make choices that reflect the unique person God created him to be.
Wouldn’t it be beautiful if you and I could act the same way?
Too often, we spend our lives trying to censor the things that make us unique. We squelch the likes and dislikes that make us different from our neighbor/best friend/mom. We bury our hopes and dreams because they don’t match up with what we’re “supposed” to want. We spend our lives trying to fit into the mold that produced someone we admire (and who, we’re certain, does things much better than we do).
In the process, we lose the unique, fearfully and wonderfully made individual that God created us to be.
Granted, there is one very important way in which we’re all supposed to be the same: We’re all meant to be like Jesus. Being like Jesus is what’s important. It’s irrelevant if we’re like a certain person at church, or our sister, or some other woman we know. As long as we’re walking in God’s ways (as revealed in Scripture), we’re free to be whoever He made us to be.
Do you like cats? Fine. Do you hate carbonated beverages? Fine. Do you dislike cooking or love jogging or hate serving on committees or love painting landscapes? Fine, fine, fine, fine.
God made you to be you. He didn’t intend you to be a cookie cutter version of anyone else; He intends for you to be who you are meant to be, because if you live into His design for you, you will reflect His glory in a way that nobody else on this earth will reflect Him.
If you want waffles and clowns for your birthday, go ahead and have them. And maybe even throw in a bulldozer or two.
I bet God would love that.
Jeremiah 1:5—“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart.” (emphasis mine) (NIV)