Proud of My Weird

I was talking to my mom today about how weird I am. I have no problems at all being weird, I am proud of it. I told her that I embrace my weird and that she needed to embrace her weird. You see I’m bold, I have no problem when the occasion calls for it to be loud and crazy and weird. For example, last week I was playing my mom the song "Joy" by For King and Country and as I was playing it I just couldn’t stop myself from dancing in my seat. We were at a public place and we were outside in the gazebo and I was just moving and rockin’ out to that song. With a slight grin on her face, she just stared at me. I kept encouraging her to get into it and be free. She continued to just stare at me. Today she did the same thing. I wasn’t being overly weird, but my usual, and she just kept staring at me. I told her that I embrace my weird. She felt the need to point out that I’m proud of my weird. Maybe sitting silently and staring at me weird is her weird, except I know better. I know her as well as anybody knows her and my mom has a weird streak inside of her that she hides. So, I kept thinking about it and I came to realize that embracing the weird isn’t enough, we also need to express our weird. That’s part of exploring who we are as people, it’s part of experiencing the reveal that God has promised in introducing us to the true us. Yep, I brought this back to Colossians 3:4 if you can possibly believe that I’m still talking about that. "When Christ who is our life shows himself, then shall you also appear with him in glory." (NMB)

 
Getting to know every part of us, even the strange and weird and crazy and silly parts of ourselves, that is all God given. I read a book called Divine Obsession (actually I have quoted it a few times in these messages), in it there’s a chapter on Peter. Actually, to be more precise it’s about the relationship between Peter and Jesus. One of the things that this particular chapter posits is that the relationship between Jesus and Peter was that of best friends, the kind who can laugh and giggle and poke fun at one another. It describes a scene of the two of them staying back from the rest of the disciples as they’re traveling because they are moving slowly due to fact that they are skipping rocks and telling jokes. Imagine, Jesus telling jokes. I guarantee Jesus told jokes, why, because it’s fun and it’s laughter and it’s living and it’s life. To bring that to other people is an act of love. Jesus was weird. He not only embraced His weird, but He expressed it fully. There’s a scene in The Passion that is unquestionably my favorite, and that’s where He and Mary are playing and joking with one another. It’s such a light moment in a dark movie, and it brings a rounded aspect to this Man who we have put on a pedestal, but He was a man, a great man, a real man. He was a fully realized human being with a desire to laugh and enjoy the life that His father created. Jesus was weird. Correction: Jesus is weird. We all have something about us that is odd or different or just weird, and it was by design. God designed us to be fully realized human beings, with a soul tied to Him and informed and inspired by Him. We were made in the image of God, that means God has a big sense of humor. Embrace your weird and express it. It may take time and it may be something you need to pray about, figuring out how to let down your guard, but it'll be worth it. Vulnerable is scary. Especially being vulnerable to ourselves because there’s no harsher critic than our own insecurities. 
 
You’re a weirdo and I like it. Have you explored how that weird part of you is actually a gift from God? Have you asked Him to reveal why you’re weird? Have you tried asking Him about the weird parts of you that not even you know about? These are just a couple of suggestions about things you could be talking to your Lord and Savior and favorite Weirdo about. Embrace your weird, a true gift from God.