There’s only one of you – make it count

Between the months of July and October each year thousands of people drive hundreds of kilometres to catch a glimpse and photograph one of the most crowded biodiversity hotspots in the world displayed in a kaleidoscope of colour, the daisies of Namaqualand.

“There are more than 7 billion people in the world. There is only one me. There is only one you. “

Depending on rainfall, almost 4 000 diverse species of plants burst forth and produce a floral carpet in Namaqualand and surrounds that never ceases to amaze visitors from all over the world. Even the locals never tire of witnessing this miraculous phenomenon.

A friend and I recently took a trip up the N7 from Cape Town to experience, for the first time, a walk among the daisies. Alas, this pleasure was to be denied.

During our stay in Namaqualand, the weather was freezing and we even experienced snowfall which the locals told us was extremely uncommon for that time of the year.

In the end, as the sun pushed its way through the clouds, we did manage to get a glimpse of the beauty of the daisies, though not in huge stretches of it. We also saw single flowers here and there, and I captured them in their singular beauty.

I looked at the daisy, its perfect stem and petals, perfect shape and beautiful bright colour, and I thought to myself, “what a perfect symbol of beauty”.

I appreciated the beauty of the daisy on its own. I am sure a botanist would be able to tell us more about the uniqueness of each flower.

This made me think of our uniqueness as individuals. Just as the Namaqua daisy, being one in millions of other daisies, has its own singular beauty, so we too have our own singular, and unique beauty which is displayed in our gifts, talents, personalities and so on.

There are more than 7 billion people in the world. There is only one me. There is only one you. Can you imagine that? There is a paradox in this reality. We are both truly unique and one of more than 7 billion at the same time.

On the one hand it is so amazing, almost breath-taking, to know that there will never be another me or another you.

On the other hand, you and I have a responsibility to live out that uniqueness. We have to give to the world what only we can give.

No-one else before us was able to do that, and no-one after us will be able to do it either. Our time is here and now to be us, and the best of us. Only you can do what you are uniquely qualified for. If we do not give what only we uniquely can give, then our gift to the world will be lost forever.

The author Steve Goodier says it beautifully with these words: “And at the end of my life, the question I never want to be asked is, ‘How come you weren’t more like you? You had such great potential. You were a wholly unique person — unrepeatable and irreplaceable. Why you weren’t more like you?’”

God knows us individually, separately from everyone else. This is hard to believe, but in Jeremiah we read: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;” which means we were created and set aside to be and do a special task.

CS Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain: “Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you…God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.”

The next time you are able to experience something like the beauty of the floral carpets of Namaqua daisies, remember that it consists of millions of individual daisies.