HEATHER HOPES: It’s Okay to be a Hybrid

By HEATHER CATHLEEN COX
Special to the NEWS

Heather Cathleen Cox

I do a lot of things. I’m not someone who really can say, “Oh, I’m a (blank),” and have it be the whole story. Sometimes, when people ask me what I do, I really get uncomfortable because I don’t think what I do is definable, unless I start making up words (which I would neeevvvveeerr do).

What I do changes on a daily basis. Some days I paint, some days I photograph; other days I write, or I spend time in nature. Some days I make good music, while some days I try to make good music and, really, it’s not so awesome. I even act, build websites, work at a gallery, run blogs, write about food, work at a magazine, volunteer at a nursing home, and the list just goes on.

One thing I’m learning in my old age is that the world wants to pigeonhole us. The world gets freaked out when we go against the grain of society. My whole life, people have been trying to tell me to pick something to do. People have told me things like I need direction, as if, I can’t possibly have direction since to them I make no sense.

In John 14:17, Jesus says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Now, I’m a far way’s off from having things figured out. And even though at times I was made to feel crazy, super different and completely weird, I am so grateful I never listened to any of those folks…even when I was little and attending Baptist schools, where teachers don’t always react very kindly to precocious young ladies who refuse to do something “just because” someone “said so.” I’m even glad I went to the office all those times. I wasn’t a rebel without a cause; I was just a person with a voice trying to learn how to use it.

Maybe it’s a good thing I’ve mellowed out a bit. The Lord gets all the credit for that. However, I’ll probably always be fiery about things that mean something to me. I’ll probably always be sweet to anyone who gives me the chance, minus creepy guys at Starbuck’s. I’ll probably always be a goofball and an eternal optimist whose dreams are so big they’re scary. I don’t know if it’s right, but today, I finally learned it’s not wrong. God made me this way, and I don’t have to define it, apologize or anything else! And neither do you!

Shine bright and beautiful. Not everyone is a diamond. Some of us are emeralds, or amethysts or black onyxes. Not everyone is a rose. Some of us are daisies, hibiscus flowers and daffodils. Be the beautiful you were designed to be, even or especially if it’s a hybrid. It’s okay, and in fact, it’s the best way!

Romans 12:2 NIV says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”