God Doesn’t Want Clones

Justin Kobylka is a selective python breeder in Toccoa, Georgia.

His passion for reptiles began as a child and grew into such a passion that he left the medical profession to make them his livelihood. By selectively breeding ball pythons he has created an amazing array of patterns in snakes which he then sells via the internet.

Recently Justin has made the headlines by producing what must be the most unique pattern of all. Using selective breeding, he has generated an albino lavender ball python with a smiling face emoji pattern. Yes, this white snake has bright yellow smiling faces on it.

I’m tempted to say, “The snakes are the ones who did all of the work by mating and laying eggs.” But credit must be given to Justin. It took him eight years of painstaking work to bring about this one-of-a-kind snake.

Although Justin claims he could easily get $4,500 for this exotic creature, he says this one’s not for sale. He’s invested too much effort into it to exchange it for money. To Justin, this snake represents a true labor of love.

But I strongly suspect, that if allowed to slither among its fellow ball pythons, this little snake would want nothing more than to be like all the other snakes. Uniqueness would mean absolutely nothing to him, though it meant everything to his “human father.”

Unique as Snowflakes

That seems to also be the case with people. None of us wants to be one-of-a-kind – at least not in our youth when our craving for peer acceptance is strongest. It seems that we do not appreciate our own uniqueness until the year’s role by and we tire of trying to fit into society’s mold of what the “ideal person” should be.

Hopefully, each of us can come to that place sooner rather than later. Hopefully, we can grasp the reality that our Heavenly Father loves us just the way we are, with our own unique personality and mix of physical, emotional, and mental attributes and abilities.

It’s a fact that, although snowflakes fall into some basic categories (e.g. dendrites, plates, sectored plates, needles, columns, hollow columns, and solid prisms), scientists have yet to find two snowflakes exactly alike. They all appear to be one-of-a-kind. If that gives any indication of how much God loves uniqueness, then is it any wonder He should want us to be the one-of-a-kind person he created us to be?

If other people beat you up for not matching their concept of the ideal person, don’t worry about their opinion. Someone far greater created you to be different and loves you just as you are. His opinion matters the most.

God Called Many

When God called His prophets—Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many others—He chose people who were completely different from each other. When Jesus called His disciples, He chose men as different as night and day. Some were extroverts, some were introverts. Some loved being center stage, some were content to be wallflowers. He chose the bold and impetuous, as well as the cautious and analytical. God loves and chooses them all.

As each part and organ of the body is different—each fulfilling its own function, so are the people whom God calls to serve in His kingdom (1 Cor. 12:12–31).

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven, thank You that You love me and accept me as I am. Thank You for making me according to Your own specifications—with just the right gender, color, size, shape, voice, personality, and attributes. When the pressure to conform weighs heavily upon me, help me, Father, to be the person You created me to be and to only seek to please You. Amen.