So be different.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.    Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)


A while back I had my daughter and some other girls in the car with us.  The other girls were a year or two older than Madolyn...they are in the junior high...which is a big deal to Madolyn who is still at the grade school.  They were carrying on being silly like girls are, and as I got back in the car, I heard one of them say, "Everyone in Junior High cusses and I mean everyone."  To which I said, "So be different."  And I know they probably rolled their eyes and made faces at me because I just don't understand and they just didn't want a lecture...

But I remember how it was.  I remember how cool I thought it sounded to cuss and use words I would not want my parents to hear.  It is so different now that we're old and are parents, but Jay and I will go to a movie and if there is a lot of swearing, we will comment on how it actually hurts our ears.  Literally.  I can barely stomach listening to someone with a filthy mouth...and I used to have one of my own when I was in high school.

I am not saying I do not let one slip every now and then...and there are times when I say one purposely...I can't even blame it on smashing my finger with a hammer...but to just rattle them off as part of my every-day vocabulary, uh-uh...no way.  And it is sooo hard to be around it all the time and not fall into the trap.  I think a lot of people hear it so much, it just becomes second-nature.  I can only imagine how bad it is, say, on a construction site.  Not to be picking on the construction trade, but you know that those fellas out there can be pretty raunchy!  I've asked Jay before how it is where he works...and though he's no saint either (sorry, pal) he said it is tough sometimes because you hear so much of it.

I know that my daughter will probably go through a phase where she believes it is cool to cuss just like everyone around her, but I will encourage her to be different, to be the weird one.  We often tell our youth group, be the one that chooses NOT to go along because there are probably five kids waiting to follow someone the other direction if only they are led.  Many, many people are not bold enough to make those tough choices on their own, but if they have someone to follow...now, that's better, then they're not alone. 

I can tell you I have been many places where I have made the choice to be different.  Maybe not all the time, but a lot of the time.  Maybe good different, some bad different.  I knew others were making comments and judgments about me, but that's okay.  Who wants to be like everyone else anyway, right?  I know I'm weird.  I am okay with being different.  Different is what sets you apart...and why not choose the narrow path...we know where it's going.