Things that are the same can also be very different from each other. 

  I learned this early in life because my mother loved to purchase clothes for my brother and I that were the same … same in almost every way except the colour. For some reason, John’s colours were always blues and greys and my colours were always browns and greens. 

It’s a colour pattern that I never shook until I got married. With Lily’s help I pretty much got rid of all my brown clothes.

I’m not sure why I got stuck with brown and green, but it may have had something to do with the colour of our eyes. I never asked my Mom that question when she was alive.

My mom would buy us everything the same – shoes, socks, shirts, and pants. It didn’t matter what it was; they were even the same size. She just got two of everything – identical except for the colour.

I do remember one area she failed in, however. In the late sixties, corduroy pants were a big hit. Everyone was wearing them and the style at that time was really wide corduroy stripes. They were the hot new style. 

My mother found the wide corduroy pants we wanted so that we fit in with everyone else. And she got the identical pants for both of us, just in different colours, of course. 

But the one thing that was different about them was that they had wide corduroy stripes but with medium and small stripes in between. 

They ended up sort of the same, but very different if you really looked at them. 

My mom was the queen of shopping at discount stores and, for some reason, the discount clothing industry at the time was not particularly observant when it came to copying corduroy pants.

… Some things that are the same can also be very different. 

That statement is also true about the sun. Every night the sun sets in the west and, as the sun goes down, it creates a scene in the sky. 

Although this same event happens every evening, the scene in the sky is different each night. Some days it’s more orange, other days it’s more pink, or even more deep red or purple. 

If it’s green though, head for cover – there’s probably a tornado coming. 

This is why you can look at the same thing day after day and never get bored. Though it’s always the same, it’s different.

You can point to where in the sky the sun will dip below the horizon; it’s always the same place. But the scene is different today than it was yesterday.

Lily showed me a picture of the sunset she took last night, and I couldn’t say, “Oh ya, I’ve seen that before.”

Why? Because though I have watched the sun go down many times, her picture was different than it was the previous night or will be tonight.

It’s the same, but it’s different.

Here’s the thing: God is the same yesterday, today and forever. But every day you need something different from Him. Some days you may need encouragement; other days it might be comfort. There will certainly be times when you need correction. And there are a myriad of other things that you might need from God who is always the same. That is why the Bible not only tells us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, but that He is also new every morning. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need from God today? Leave you comments below.