DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

I sat up one morning pondering on this words;
"Dare to be different",
And wondered its essence in a season such as this:
A season that applauds evil and persecutes good,
A season that everyone does what seems right in their sight,
not minding the consequences,
A season that everyone wants to belong and no one wants to be left out,
A season were everyone follows the dictations of their heart and above all,
A season were the fear of God is obsolete....
I really pondered at these words,


"Dare to be different",
"why be different"?
I asked,
You can't succeed being different!
This voice kept saying, "a tree cannot make a forest".  
True, it maybe that a tree cannot make a forest,
But I took solace in these words,
"Little drops of the rain makes a mighty ocean,"
which I interpreted as, "little drops of Righteousness makes a mighty ocean of Righteousness.
You know, Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of old would have been saved,
If at least ten People! were found Righteous.


"Dare to be different"!
These words kept resounding in my heart,
like the sounding bells of Westminster Abbey,
Urging me on even when I felt I shouldn't.
"What is this thing all about?"
"Don't you think it is stupid?"
I found myself asking.
"Come on, join them,"
this strong overwhelming voice kept saying,
struggling within me to be recognized.
"You can't beat them so join them," it said.
But then came this gentle small voice,
Not struggling for recognition but convincing enough to be heard saying,
"Thou shall not follow the multitude to do evil".


Oh dear!
How do I come out of this haze of voices?
but then I pondered on this question; 
Are there benefits of daring to be different, and if there are, What are the costs? I asked.
To answer this question, the deeds of men like Solomon, 
Daniel, Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego came to my heart.
SOLOMON - he dared to be different by asking for wisdom to rule God's people instead of asking for fame,wealth, and power which other Kings would have asked for. For this reason, God blessed him with all.

DANIEL - Proposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king's meat and in daring to be different from the other Hebrew Princes, himself and his colleagues - Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were blessed with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, ten times better than the wise men of Babylon.


Talking about prices to pay, there are, in daring to be different.


Joseph sold into slavery, and the dungeons of Eygpt;
Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced with the burning furnance and,
Daniel in the Lion's den one not to be easily forgotten.
Reflecting on these things, I said to myself there are benefits,
Indeed life time benefits of daring to be different.
Benefits that surpass the costs.
So, why should I faint?
Why should I grow weary of daring to be different! 
for like Daniel, i have proposed in my heart to;
"DARE TO BE DIFFERENT".
And to this generation this is a clarion call;


DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!!!


written by
Inyengi Kalio