Already Unique

I saw an article recently that focused on how three different men had each created their own unique fashion styles. All of them looked quite different from each other, and all of them had managed to combine their clothes in ways that really did stand out from most of the styles on the street. The point of the article was to explore how these men had been able to craft styles that were actually unique, and how you and I could do the same.

Because that’s what we’re supposed to do, isn’t it? Western culture encourages us to stand out from the crowd and be different, to express our individuality and make sure everyone knows how unique we are. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. The three men in the article are not the only ones trying to be unique these days. There are unique styles all over the place—or there would be, if there weren’t so many other people trying to be unique in the same sorts of ways. It’s getting harder and harder to stand out from the crowd with so many in the crowd working so hard to stand out as well. I guess I could wear a scarf in the summer, or put on a cowboy hat in Ireland, and that would certainly stand out, but is it really unique? Garth Brooks already wore a cowboy hat here, and he looked better in it. Do I need to invent my own hat? Wouldn’t that be crossing the line from unique to just plain weird, like Lady Gaga wearing her dress made of meat? Is that what it takes to be truly unique these days?

I don’t think so. Here’s a secret the fashion industry will never tell: even if I’m ordinary and easy to overlook because I blend in with the crowd and wear regular clothes and I don’t draw much attention to myself and my whole life is pretty much just similar to lots of other people’s lives—even then, I’m still unique. Yes! It’s true. It’s true because my individual uniqueness is not something I have to create and prove and perform for others. It’s already there, built in to the very nature of the world and my place in it.

Look closely and you’ll see that everything about this world and our time living in it is unique: the sunset last night was unique, never seen before and never to be repeated. My work is unique, even though it’s the same kind of work lots of other people do—no one else has done it here, today, right when it needed doing for this place and time, for these unique people around me. It doesn’t matter how many other people have done the same job how many times in how many other places, I’m the one who’s here to do it now. This is my unique responsibility. My unique opportunity.

My family is unique as well, even though it’s similar to a lot of other families all over the world. Lots of couples hold hands, but my wife’s fingers between my fingers are unique, and one of her fingers has my ring on it, and one of my fingers has hers. Lots of couples wear rings, but no one else wears our rings. Our children are unique, too. They are uniquely part of our family, which is similar but also different from any other family that has ever existed because no other family has had us in it. And I’m the one who gets to be here, today, to be a husband to my wife, and a father to my children. This is my unique privilege.

I am uniquely created in God’s own image and placed in this time and circumstance by his hand for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). I am uniquely placed to do what only I can. Only I can enjoy the world through the eyes God gave specifically to me, respond to God with the heart he made me, and show his love and care for the unique people around me with the unique life he sustains in me right here where he put me, in my own unique little corner of the world as I find it today. As the Apostle Paul said, “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). What difference does it make if my clothes, and my life, look familiar and ordinary while I do the unique good works that God specifically designed me for to do today? I don’t need to prove my uniqueness to you, or to anyone. I’ve got more important things to do, like the unique dishes left dirty from a unique breakfast with my unique family on this unique morning that has never, ever happened before.