A Horse of a Different Color

Do you remember in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy knocks on the door of the Emerald City?

“We wanna see the Wizard.” Dorothy yanked the skirt of her blue, poppy scented dress and looked to the guard hanging out the window.

“The Wizard? But nobody can see the great Oz. Even I’ve never seen him,” exclaimed the bushy mustached guard. “You’re wasting my time!”

“Oh, please, sir. I’ve got to see the Wizard. The Good Witch of the North sent me.” Dorothy turned and flashed her sparkling ruby red slippers.

“Well, bust my buttons,” the guard shouted. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place? That’s a horse of a different color! Come on in.”

Later on in the story, the guard pulls Dorothy up into a carriage and she asks, “What kind of a horse is that? I’ve never seen a horse like that before.”

The guard explains, “And never will again, I fancy. There’s only one of him and he’s it. He’s the horse of a different color, you’ve heard tell about.”

For most of my life, that’s how I felt—like a horse of a different color.  Paraded around Emerald city as everyone shouted, “Look, she’s the only one!”

Have you ever felt like that? A strange mutation in the human race?

I’m a homeschooled PK (pastors’ kid) which means I grew up away from the secular world. Sheltered, you could say.

I never thought of it as a bad thing, in fact, I loved it. I’m an introvert and I enjoy reading books, writing, and crafting. The problem began when I stepped out my front door.

Like that technicolored horse, I stuck out everywhere I went. The way I dressed, thought, and acted differed vastly from my peers.

I felt like an outcast. I began thinking to myself, “I’m the only one of me there is. The only one saving myself for marriage, the only one who doesn’t like to party and break the rules, the only one who loves Jesus and wants to make a difference in this world.”

Deuteronomy 14:2 ESV says, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” The KJV version says a ‘peculiar people’ instead of ‘treasured possession’.

God spoke this to the Israelites telling them to dress and act differently from the nations around them because they were set apart. I think that is true for us today. We are not called to ‘fit in’ with the world around us. We are called to ‘stick out’. We are supposed to be different; peculiar.

Eventually, when I entered my adult year, I poked my head out and cautiously entered the outside world again. I became a counselor at a youth camp and worked with other Christians my age. I later got a full-time job and met more Christians. That’s when I realized something.

I wasn’t the only peculiar one.

I convinced myself that as a ‘horse of a different color’ I was alone, but it turns out there are herds of individuals like me! Homeschoolers, Christians, Pastors’ kids, and people who wanted to make a difference in this world for Jesus.

And you know what? Most of them felt like me

Alone.

Being different didn’t decrease my value or hinder me from making friends. I just had to find ‘my people’. People who understood me and loved me not for what they could change me into but for who I was.

A silly quote I like to repeat is “Don’t hide your weirdness, shine it like a lighthouse to attract other weirdos.” To me it means, “Don’t hide your true colors, let it shine and attract others like you.”

So, if you are feeling alone (or have a child who is) I would say this to you. Look outside (for kids in safe places like church events, homeschool co-ops, or hobby groups) and you might spot a horse of a different color. Because you know there is more than one.

Now stallions and mares, go find your herd!