In the famous children's story, The Ugly Duckling from Grimm's Fairy Tales, there was once a young duckling that had difficulty living in the world that it found itself. Its size and appearance were not the same, and it behaved differently from the others. It was always friendly and good to everyone, but it just didn't fit into duck society. The ugly duckling was teased and rejected, and it was often quite sad because of it.
The time came however when a marvelous change occurred. The dull-grey awkward young bird developed into a beautiful white swan! It then found itself among many others of its own kind - a great many swans.
It turned out that it wasn't really ugly, because it wasn't really a duck. When those who used to make fun of it saw what had happened, they were amazed at how beautiful and glorious that it had become. There was then no more unhappiness, only love and respect.
People who try to live a good Christian life in what remains a very sinful world can sometimes experience life very much like that young swan before its change. Those who behave in a way that God would approve of may seem odd and unpopular for the time being. But, like the swan, the Christian's change will also one day come. And when it does, we too will be glorious.
Fact Finder: Did Jesus Christ say that those who obey Him would easily fit into the present sinful world, or would they sometimes have problems? John 15:18-19