Appreciating pineapple tops …

The guy setting up his laptop and study materials at the local Starbucks looked like any ordinary student except for the “pineapple top” he was sporting.

“Pineapple top”?

Yeah, you know, a pony tail on the top of the head. The actual guy’s pineapple top is shown in the photo above.

What I appreciated as this fellow settled in was that two different, older ladies walked up to him at different times just to tell him they liked his hair.

Let’s be honest, people not of his generation would too often gripe about a man sporting a ponytail, especially on top of his head! But these ladies chose, instead, to appreciate this guy’s individual style and encouraged it.

When God created us, He didn’t use a cookie cutter. While there are many who would like to bring everyone else into submission to how they think everyone else should be like, God made each one of us unique. He didn’t intend for us all to walk to the beat of the same drummer, to sport the same styles, to have the same tastes, even to enjoy the same things.

When God created us in His image, that meant He created us each uniquely in His image. We’ll love each other more authentically, and fellowship with each other more enjoyably, when we learn to appreciate the differences that make us who we are rather than criticize what it is that makes us different from one another.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, stands out as unique, and so do each one of us.

The emperor and conqueror of nations, Napoleon Bonaparte, rightly recognized the absolute uniqueness of Jesus and expressed it in these words:

“I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His Empire upon Love, and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

Maybe you would never wear a ponytail — especially a “pineapple top” — and maybe it’s your personal thinking that no man should wear a ponytail. But do you see how appreciating such a simple difference can draw people closer together compared to holding to critical view that serves absolutely no positive purpose whatsoever?

The “pineapple top” guy at the coffee shop, and the two ladies who spoke to him, may never cross paths again. But for that very brief moment, appreciating what was different about them created an opportunity to connect with a stranger in a positive way.

Maybe we’d have far less to complain about if we just let people be the unique creations God made them to be — as unique as the Lord who made them — and perhaps we could even connect positively if we learn to actually appreciate the things that make us different and unique from others.

Scotty