However, I do like to usually pick one small thing to have different than other folks.

For instance, about 13 years ago I started wearing a toe ring. A special friend had given it to me and not many people were wearing toe rings back then (at least not where we lived) so it was my little thing that was unusual and special just for me. Then, about 7 years ago I noticed everyone and her sister was wearing a toe ring. Actually, it was all my sisters-in-law. We were all together one day after my family had moved back from Japan and when I looked down while we were all standing around chatting, I realized four pair of feet had on a toe ring. I went back to my mother in laws house, took my toe ring off, and never put it back on. My little bit of individualism wasn't so individual anymore.

The same thing happened with my favorite O.P.I. toenail polish. The bright blue Azure for Sure that had once been unique to me and my toes all of sudden was showing up on lots of peoples toenails. I quit wearing it almost completely, with the exception of special occasions when I want to still be a bit funky underneath all the frilliness, like when I was getting ready for this.  

I'm not vocal about what I choose to be individual about. If I was, then everyone would start doing it. And I'd have to find something new. Again.

But, I'm also not one to jump on the bandwagon really quickly just because everyone else is doing it.

When I was a young girl I refused to make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ at the same time all the other tweens and teens around me were making theirs. I wanted to make sure what I felt and thought I believed was real and not just a go with the flow feel good experience.

I have never tried illegal drugs. I know lots of people who have. Not just in high school either. My neighbors, when I was in the Air Force, were heavily into smoking pot every chance they got. I never saw the point of jumping on that bandwagon.

I don't believe homeschooling my kids is the only real way to be in obedience to God regarding Deuteronomy 6:7. I did those things even before we home-schooled. 

I didn't jump on the vaccines-cause-autism bandwagon, even though we have an autistic child, because I don't believe vaccines alone are the problem. I do believe they are a trigger, but not an all encompassing reason for the existence of autism. For us, though, there is a much simpler reason we no longer vaccinate our children: several of the boys have had allergic reactions in the past and we just don't know which ones will cause allergic reactions in the future. 

And sometimes, when I don't agree with/understand all those around me, I just create my own bandwagon. Or something like that.

I don't feed my family lots of organic and homemade/semi-homemade food because its cool to do so. I feed my family this way because I grew up in a family that grew 80% of what we ate, bartered/traded for 10%, and got the final 10% for as cheap as we could. My mom made nearly everything from scratch and still gives me the royal I-can't-believe-you-fed-your-family-that talk if I even suggest that I popped a tv dinner in the microwave. No matter how busy we are. Truth is, I'll be a "foodie" when being one isn't just a new fangled cool word to call myself.

I don't recycle, repurpose, and re-use every stinking think I can because Al Gore told me to, or because I'm afraid of my carbon footprint, or global warming. I do it because I think God called us to be good stewards of the earth and everything in it. I do think we should plant trees, quit building strip malls, and use less chemicals. Simply put: It's the christian thing to do! 

You won't find me on the list of folks reading my bible in 90 days. Not because I don't think it can't be done but because I don't think it should be done. The Bible is historical Truth. It is God's gift to mankind to guide us on a straight and narrow path. It is not a novel, and reading it as if it was one doesn't do it justice. I will study my Bible deeply and with every bit of my being...just not on a 90 day time frame. Gathering hold of its underlying Truths is more important to my soul than just being able to say "I've read it."

You won't find me wearing a headband and call it a covering for my head. I have taken up the habit of covering my head fully with a shawl when I am in prayer in my home by myself. You can not convince me that an inch wide band is a covering, but, by the same token, I also won't be trying to convince every other woman around me that they are in sin if they don't cover at all. Because I don't believe they are. I have chosen to cover in my home, in my private prayer time, when I am alone with God, because it is my mark of a covenant to be faithful and true to Him always. Kinda like the mark of the rainbow. It isn't something you see at all times...just appointed times as a reminder of faithfulness. I also know that I am someone who is not always praying without ceasing, and so I will not wear a cover at all times. To do so, in my opinion, would be to slap the face of God, with my impertinence and self-righteousness.

All in all, I guess I just don't want to only be a follower. Sometimes its good to follow. Other times it leads you down a path of false understanding. I like to search things out for myself, keep what I find is good but above all accurate, and toss the rest to the side. Isn't that what discernment is all about?!

Sallie