Peculiar: Part 2

Honestly there are plenty of ways to be peculiar. All you have to do, is get one of those giant deli pickles and commit yourself to walking around with it for a week pretending that it is a cigar. Kermit the Frog once said/sang, "It's not easy being green," strangeness unfortunately is not like being green. Strangeness is natural. Just do what comes natural and someone, somewhere will think you are weird. Rightly so, all of us have some inbred peculiarities, ALL OF US (some more than others.) But not all of our peculiarities point to God. Indeed many don't, but then again, some do. Some are so incomprehensible that they elicit a confused look, a scratch of the head and a wondering thought that asks, "Why does that guy do that thing he does?" So, as promised here is my list of ways that I would like to be peculiar or difficult to understand:

WAYS THAT I DO WANT TO BE PECULIAR
or
(Please Lord help me grow up and be strange like this.)

1. I would like to have a genuine love for my neighbor. The one who doesn't mow his yard and has been know to leave a toilet; yes a real live porcelain commode; in it for weeks at a time. A love that would be willing to occasionally and joyfully mow his yard and clean up after him because Christ loves him and I do as well.
   
2. In the face of economic turmoil and financial disaster, I would like to be the kind of guy who steps it up in the area of generosity.
   
3. I want to reflexively forgive the people who would be happy if my life ended in public failure
4. I would like to have a compassion that will not allow me to turn a blind eye to the needs of those who are oppressed and taken advantage of in this world; especially those who are different from me in every way.
   
5. I would like to be honest even when that honesty results in people being disappointed with me.
   
6. I want to be able to trust that God is completely good, loving and caring even when nothing goes my way.
   
7. If for some reason I do grow more peculiar in these ways, I pray that I can be humble in the process. I have been prideful of lesser things.
   

The truth is that right now there is little about my life that would cause anyone, any confusion. The way that I live and react to most life situations is entirely understandable. So, if I find my life more frequently and more dramatically marked in the above ways; enough so that it causes even a few people to look and shake their heads in lack of understanding...well, I'm OK with that.

Blessings,
PB