Last night, I had a real joy.  Two girls from my confirmation class are moving next month, and they didn’t want to leave town without being baptized and confirmed.

So 9 of us gathered in the chapel to celebrate the event.  There were several iPhones and iPads broadcasting live to family members and dear friends.  It was awesome.

The girls are identical twins, by the way.  People always have trouble telling them apart. Me too.  It used to drive me crazy!  But now, I have no problem.  Isn’t that interesting? I’ve stopped seeing double.  Now I look at them and I see…single.  What’s changed?

Each girl stood up and read a creed she had written, sharing what she believed.  The creeds were completely different, but equally beautiful.  My heart swelled to hear them sharing how much they’d actually learned after two years of fun weekly classes.  (Yes, TWO YEARS of confirmation! It’s totally worth it!)

We give our confirmands stoles that they decorate.  Rainbows, crosses, crowns, waterfalls, each of them had different signs and symbols of their faith.  After their baptisms, one of the other two teachers presented them with the stole for them to proudly wear.

Certainly, these girls have a lot in common, but if you look closely, you see that they are special in their own, different ways.  I took me a while, but the more I’ve looked, the more unique things I’ve seen about each of them.

The same is true with any crowd of people.  One glance at a sanctuary of worshippers can make you think Christians are all alike.  But over time, looking through God’s eyes, you begin to see each person as “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139).  Like Paul reminds us, we’re each different parts of the body of Christ.  We’re all in it together, but in different ways.

It’s not just a Sunday morning Christian thing  either; it’s an everywhere thing.  People are special.  And unique.  I’m hesitant to say “like a snowflake”, as that has for some reason become a put down, but I believe it’s true. That’s how God made us. The more we look, the more we’ll be blessed to see:

No two people are identical.

Not even the identical ones.

Have a great week,

Mitch