Some People Call it Quirky

{by Rachel Coker}

I remember, a few months back, reading a magazine interview on my favorite actress, Zooey Deschanel. (If you don’t know who she is, just picture the most girly, off-beat, amazing actress/singer ever. Oh yeah, you’re thinking. That girl! Yep, you’re right!)

Anyway, the interviewer asked Zooey how she felt about all the buzz she gets on her quirky sense of style. Why does she wear so many skirts and so little leather? The answer she gave surprised me. “I think it’s an annoying word,” she replied, “Quirky is like a nice way of saying weird.”

It made me think back to all the times I have, in the past, been called “quirky” or “unique”. Were all those people just trying to think of a nice way of letting me know I’m weird? Does dressing and behaving in ways that are different qualify me as some kind of freak by today’s standards?

I think the world we live in too often operates by a one-size-fits-all mentality. Go to any public mall or movie theater and you’ll see a lot of people that are just about the same. The same style of jeans. The same branded t-shirts. The same shaggy hair and of-the-moment handbags. A whole lot of sameness. It’s seriously depressing. Throw someone into the equation that doesn’t quite match and suddenly we have someone different. Someone “quirky”. Someone weird.

As someone who has dealt with a lot of criticism in the past for not looking or acting like everyone else, Zooey’s quote was something I could immediately relate to. It’s never nice to feel weird. Sometimes it’s so painful that I feel like I would do almost anything to stop feeling like a loser. I want those popular jeans. That “in” haircut. I want to look and act just like everyone else my age.

But then, I remember a promise from God’s word. Matthew 5:14 tells me that, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” And it’s so true. As Christians, we are to be lights in the darkness. A spot of color in a sea of gray. Our lives and personalities are meant to starkly stand out against the dreary hopelessness of this world.

I don’t want to be conformed to the patterns of this world. As a daughter of the King, I want to be transformed. Different. “Quirky”, even. I want to go about my everyday life in a way that will make others pause and take notice.

God created each of us with our own stamp of uniqueness. He never meant for us all to operate in the same way. We have different opinions and hopes and dreams. And our lives are meant to reflect that in different ways. We should all be “quirky”, if that means expressing ourselves in individual, God-honoring ways. I don’t think that anything could make our Father happier than seeing a world full of unique, colorful Christians impacting those around them. A whole army of quirky individuals. Marching for the King of Kings.