Maryann and I had been married ten years when we welcomed our first child. Most of our friends had their second or third by that time. We were a part of a tight social group at our church, and were very involved in each other’s lives.

We had a lot of great parenting advice to give our friends until we had our own. After getting over our initial reality check, we were beginning to figure things out when we had our second. What worked for our first child didn’t seem to work the same way with the second. After making some adjustments we settled into a new groove when the third one came along, and we had to start all over again. We finally came to a very profound conclusion: They each came different, with differences in personality that we noticed within the first seconds of their debut.

Each of our children is gifted in unique ways. They process information differently, they have different temperaments, they express themselves differently, and if that were not enough, they even love us differently.

I’ve always been fascinated by what God said to Jeremiah:

“Jeremiah, I knew all about you before I even created you. I designed that you would speak on my behalf to the nations" (see Jeremiah 1).

I wonder if Jeremiah’s parents had any idea the plans God had for their son.

God came to Mr. and Mrs. Manoah to let them know that they were going to have a special son. And their immediate response was, “Lord, we beg you, please teach us how to raise our son.” Samson came with some very specific instructions, as did John the Baptist and Jesus. But we had to observe, listen, and PRAY!

In The Sound of Music, Maria's introduction to the von Trapp family is a classic example of contrasting differences. The Captain put his children into military-style uniforms, and blew his whistle commands to order his children into perfect compliance. Maria took the whistle away, began to listen to the children, identified their differences, and then encouraged their good qualities and strengthened their weaknesses. The music metaphor was a great way to demonstrate each one’s unique contribution to a harmonized whole.

I think Maria is a more accurate picture of God’s nature than the Captain. Using another metaphor, Paul says, “He placed each one of us into the body (the church), just as he designed—each one playing his unique part for the good of all. And he has given (gifts) to each one of us, just as he pleased” (see Romans 12).

Vive la Différence!

Gary Burns is the Lake Union Conference communication director.