You may have seen them in boxes, or even that special place in the supermarket where the ‘odd shaped’ fruit and veg are kept, you know the ones I’m talking about, the ones that don’t make it onto the regular supermarket shelf because they’re not the right shape or size, they are just not the same as all the others. They get sold in a different way, with a label calling them the ‘odd ones’ or the ‘wonky ones’, you can even order them to arrive at your door in a box!
They are the rejects, the bottom of the barrel, the unselected, the leftovers no one would want to buy (apparently). Whilst the other fruit and veg is seen as the elite, acceptable, what everyone wants (or so we’re led to believe). We are fed this model of seeing things and what is or isn’t acceptable by the press, social media and to some extent by what we are taught or even by what is caught (those things that aren’t explicitly taught, but we get by osmosis) and these things you grow up seeing shape your world view. All this division of good and ‘bad’ fruit and veg, so that we can package and ship in a cost-effective way!
So, have we become too obsessed with the packaging?
Now, the truth is these fruits and veg have the same vitamins, minerals and nutrients as the other uniformly shaped fruit and veg you buy in the supermarket, but they just look a little different. Intrinsically they are the same on the inside, but this is how they turned out. Does this make them any less good for us? No of course not, but we are programmed to look away or reject them because of the way they have turned out!
You can see where this is going I hope and that God got my attention on the ‘odd box’ fruit and veg for a reason, because He was really getting my attention on what they represent!
US!
So easily we disregard or pass over the good stuff in people because they don’t come in the package we ‘like’ or find ‘acceptable’.
As Christians we are called to see things differently. The bible makes clear the focus of God’s heart…when He looks at us, He sees what’s on the inside. So, we should have this as our model for the way to look at people.
1Sam 16:7 MSG But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”
NIV But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We should be more interested in who they are as individuals and be those people that look for the gold within. We should look at them through God’s eyes and how He sees them, as their creator (whether they know Him or not). In this world we live in, there are so many critics out there, trolls who take to social media to tear people down for no good reason than fun. It is easy to see the dirt on someone, anyone can do that. But, to call the best out of people we need to be different and we need to call out the gold buried inside them and call them to a higher purpose.
I don’t want to be someone who overlooks those that look different to me (which is everyone by the way) and I don’t want my view of people to be shaped by the world but by the word!
The bible tells us, in no uncertain terms (in the 10 commandments) to love each other as the most important way to live, after loving God of course. There is a reason loving God is number 1, if we fully love God with all our hearts then we can’t help but be changed by this and the love of God will flow out of us. We are made in His image and God is love.
Matt 22: 36-49
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself‘.
We also have to include ourselves here and being able to love ourselves can be a real obstacle for many.
As I read the scripture afresh, I feel Him say that there are people reading this who have labelled themselves as the ‘odd’ ones and that they can’t get past how they look. In fact, they can barely look! Is that you? Does that resonate with your heart?
The antidote to these feelings of self-rejection is revelation!
You need a revelation from the Father of who you are and how He sees you, that penetrates your heart. You need to break agreement with lies about being ugly, different, odd and start declaring the truth of who He says you are. Spending time with those who call out the gold in you is also key and in fact becoming one of them. Start calling out the gold in yourself as God reveals it to you and look at yourself in the mirror and declare it over yourself until you believe it with your whole heart.
The truth is we are all fearfully and wonderfully made, and God does not make mistakes. To question the way we have been created is to suggest to God that He made a mistake when He was creating us and that somehow we aren’t quite good enough-awkward!
Isaiah 29:16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?
I pray that as you are reading this that God would give you a deep heart revelation, in many unexpected moments and in different ways, of just how incredible you are!
I don’t know about you but I want to live my life stopping for the odd one, the wonky one, the rejected one, the overlooked one, the bottom of the barre one, the unselected one, that one that everybody else walks past because they’re just that bit too different to engage with. That is my prayer for myself and for you too if you are reading this.
Let’s be those that champion the ‘wonky ones’ because I will let you into a little secret…
We are all a bit wonky and that’s what makes us all special!
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