Stand Out Among the Crowd

 

After the hard freezes and high winds of recent weeks, most trees stand stark and bare against the sky. Their leaves have fallen and been scattered to who knows where. But as I passed by the park, my eyes were drawn to a most interesting sight. There, surrounded by bare trees of all shapes and species and sizes, stood a lone, fully clothed oak. All its leaves, long dead, still proudly in their places.

It made me wonder how this happened. What caused this tree to hold tight to its leaves when all those trees around it let go? Would the leaves hold on all winter? How would they finally exit the scene so that new growth can take their place in the Spring? What made it possible for these leaves to withstand the winds that stripped all other trees bare?

I could not help but think of some people I have known across the years of my journey. They stand out in my mind as well because of the way they stood out in the world. These people were able to be who they are, regardless of what is going on around them. They are themselves, even if they stand out against the crowd because they are different. They, like this tree, captured my attention for that very reason. There was something different about them.

There is something different about each of us. We are each a unique creation. The Psalmist writes,

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” But over the years of our lives we are called by many voices to lose our uniqueness. We can feel so strongly the need to fit in that we bury our individuality. We may want to be liked, or to be popular, or to succeed. Sometimes we just grow weary and want to fly under the radar.

When we do so, we are not the only ones who miss out. Our uniqueness is not just a gift to us; our uniqueness is a gift to the world. We should all be the tree we were meant to be. We never know who might need to see someone stand out among the crowd.

Peace.