For good or bad, I had been mighty proud of the fact that since the beginning of the global pandemic I was COVID free. In my little mind this made me part of a unique and small group of people. This made me one of the special people who because of fate, a superior immune system, or just plain luck could walk around bragging that I had never had it. In the back of my mind, I knew it was just a matter of time but until I tested positive I thought myself a bit more special than I am.

            I think as we travel through life, we all want to think ourselves special or unique in some way. We want to be recognized for an ability, a characteristic, or an accomplishment that we can point to as a reason for people to praise or admire us. It is just a part of the human condition that we all want to feel special, to be seen by others as successful or as accomplished. We all work awfully hard to ensure that we put on a positive façade despite the chaos that is going on in our lives.

            The fact of the matter is that without even trying each and everyone of us is unique. We are all endowed with a unique DNA that determines everything from our hair color to shoe size. We each have a unique talent that makes us who we are. This can be the ability to cook or the gift of humor. Once recognized, we use our talents to draw attention to ourselves so that we can be seen as special. Often enough we hear people describing one another using superlatives that point out what is unique in the other. These can be positive, “she is the most generous person I have ever met,” or they can come with a tinge of negativity, “he is the meanest person I have ever met.” Either way, others see something unique in us.

            Beyond the observation of others, beyond the list of talents and abilities we might have, beyond the façade we attempt to create there is a reason that each of us, and all of us are special, are extraordinary. We can know this by reading only the first few pages of Sacred Scripture. We need only get to the recounting of the sixth day of creation to hear how we, each one of us, is created in the image and likeness of God. We need only read a bit of Psalm 139 to understand how intimately God was involved in making each one of us uniquely who we are. We need only read the first sentence of John 3:16 to grasp the length and breadth of God’s love for his most favored creatures.

            Too often we settle for the uniqueness or specialness that the world tells us is important. We settle for being good at something or even being the best at something. The problem with this way of thinking is that there is always someone else who is striving to be the best at whatever we are best. The problem with worldly specialness is that it is fleeting. The measure of success in this world continues to change and to be just out of our reach. Too often as beloved children of God we settle for being good at being worldly, we take comfort in being on the right side of history, we are content with being loved by the world.

            The Sacred Scriptures tell us that when God looked at what he had made on the sixth day of creation he said that it was very good. Throughout the history of salvation, despite our many transgressions against the generosity of God, despite our inability to resist temptation, despite our refusal to live and love as Jesus teaches us, God does not ever stop believing that what he created in his image and likeness is very good. Over and over again God reaches out to offer us another chance, to offer us the balm that heals our souls and renews our lives. Without limit the Lord God looks on each of his unique and special children and offers each of us what we need to be extraordinary in this life and in eternity.

            The work of God in our lives is now, always has been, and always will be what makes each of us unique, special, and holy. Through the teaching of Jesus and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, God reveals to us the way to lasting happiness, to true love, to real peace, and to eternal life. While God has indeed given us gifts and talents and calls us to be generous with these, he also challenges us to see that our dignity, our value, our worth comes from more than an ability to sing well, to make people laugh, to whip up a great meal, or to avoid a new virus. Instead, what makes us unique, what makes us special, what makes us extraordinary, is the reality that we are beloved children of God destined for the fullness of life in this world and in the world to come.