Get Used to Different

She said it yesterday, “Get used to different.” Something she noticed in an episode of The Chosen.

I wonder what it means… “get used to different.” The word strikes discord in me. It stirs joyful anticipation and angst all at the same time. There are days I yearn to break out of the monotony of the same old thing. I battle boredom with dreaming of exploring something different, and other times I dig my heels deep refusing to risk anything out of the ordinary.

Different.
It means totally unlike in nature, form, or quality.
I’m not sure how you get used to the things totally unlike what you’ve experienced or known.
How does one get comfortable with that?

I think of Ruth standing at the crossroads of different. Naomi begged her to return to the home she knew. She laid out the tough road ahead clearly.

But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”

And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”

Ruth 1:11-15 NLT

Yet Ruth was determined to do something different. She refused to take the path of her sister-in-law. She wouldn’t listen to Naomi’s warning. It’s as if all the different she would face made no difference at all.

But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

Ruth 1:16-18 NLT

It reminds me of the time Jesus explained he was the Bread of Life. It must have sounded canabalistic to the ears of those who heard. Different was definitely an understatement.

Eating flesh? Drinking blood? This different was too offensive. It was scandalous. Many refused to take another step and returned home by the road that brought them to Jesus. Home to the same old life of comfort and security.

As the crowd of followers walked away Jesus turned to his inner circle and asked, “Are you going to leave?” Peter’s response echoed Ruth’s.

“Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:68-69 NLT

I’m not sure how Peter felt about Jesus’ teaching, but this different didn’t deter what he did know. Peter believed this different Way he was following was the only way to go, and he wasn’t about to return to the same he knew before they met. Peter was willing to risk whatever different was coming. So was Ruth.

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I want to be like them. I want to take each step home with Jesus by my side.

And I’m more like them then I used to be, but there’s still a long way to go. Perhaps that’s what this journey is all about. Learning to “get used to different” by surrendering control and going home a different way.

Are you feeling nudged to prayerfully consider your own desire for control and willingness to embrace different? Then these two Morning Meditations are for you.

Morning Meditation: Putting Control in a Box