At the end of my yearly 15 minutes of reflecting, I have come to the conclusion that I, Walker Dean Moore, have a blessed life. In fact, when people ask me, “How are you doing?” I answer, “I’m suffering from satisfaction!”
You see, I’m married to an absolutely gorgeous, smart and multi-talented wife. I’ve seen her cook a gourmet meal for 100 missionaries using just a two-burner hotplate. She has the skills to take several yards of fabric and turn them into a beautiful handmade quilt. I am blessed with two sons and two daughters-in-love who are the joy of my life. I am blessed to have a wonderful job and a tremendous staff. And I am grateful to God that I have always been able to go generic.
You see, the rest of my family doesn’t use generic products. My wife uses expensive shampoo, sold only at the beauty shop. Next to her exotic brand sits my own luxury bottle: “Big Blue Dandruff Shampoo.” She has specialized hairspray, and I have “Stuff That Plasters Your Hair to Your Head,” guaranteed to hold every strand in place during a Category Five hurricane. My sons can only wear designer cologne. For Christmas, they want Polo or Cool Water, but I’m so blessed that they give me something called “Tester.” The only jeans that fit their bodies are found at American Eagle or Old Navy. But I’m so blessed. My brand is sold especially at outlet malls: “Irregular.”
Even in sickness, my family requires the big names like Sudafed or Benadryl. Not me! My medicine comes in a plain white box with large black letters reading, “Tiny Red Tablets for People with Big Runny Noses” or “Bottle of Red Liquid to Guzzle So You’ll Feel Drowsy.” Who needs Diet Coke? Instead, I choose the real man’s drink, “Buy-Rite Cola”—equally good, sometimes carbonated.
There’s only one problem in being a generic man. When I actually wear a designer brand, it looks generic. You can give me a $500 suit, but I guarantee that once it hits my body, it will look as though it came from Woolworth’s. People say clothes make the man, but I have to disagree. This man makes the clothes look cheap.
I have no problem wearing generic clothing or using generic products, but when I look into the mirror, generic ends and incredible begins. I know what the Scriptures say about my identity:
“I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well”
(Psalm 139:14).
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11).
“You are the salt of the Earth” (Matt. 5:13). “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14).
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).
“Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
(Rom. 8:1).
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light”
(1 Pet. 2:9).
There is nothing generic about being fearfully and wonderfully made, being salt and light and God making us a royal priesthood. The enemy wants me to see myself as generic. But I wear a label that says, “Handcrafted by God.”
I’m so glad that when God decided to save the world, He did not send a generic savior. Instead, He sent us His Son, Jesus Christ—the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Creator of the universe. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, He didn’t make my life generic and ordinary. Instead, He says I’m a Designer original, a person He knew before the foundation of the world. He has called me to be His child—the child of a King. He allows me access to His throne and clothes me not in generic brands, but in His righteousness. I am truly blessed.
If you want your children to live blessed lives, teach them to be satisfied with generic brands and find total fulfillment in nothing less than the best: a designer Savior.
