"Identity"

To the other people at the reception, you are name on an adhesive badge. To the TSA guard at the airport you are a face on a driver's license. To your great uncle Arthur, you will always be the kid who spilled an entire pot of spaghetti sauce even though 30 years have passed since then. To your employer and customers you are a commodity or service. To your friends you are the person who can be counted on to  ____________________________ (can you fill in the blank?)  

"Identity"  

Take away the badge, the official documents, the relatives who have known you all your life, the job, the title, the habitual roles you play in your family and friendship circle and who are you?  

St. Francis of Assisi is said to have spent entire nights praying: "O God, who are  You? And who am I?"  

The two questions go together. Find the answer to one and you will find the answer to the other. 

  

There is  little game you can play in your mind:   

 

You have a job, but you are not your job. Who are you if you aren't your job? 

You have a family, and your role in that family is important, but you are not that role. Who are you without that role? 

See and listen to the things you were told about yourself as a child by people who were important to you. Does that define "you" or is it just someone else's construct of you?  

See your clothes, your house, your possessions. You are not your possessions. Who are you? 

See the sum total of your life experiences. Would you still be "you" if you had different experiences? If you are not the sum total of these experiences, who are you? 

See your thoughts whirling around in your head. On any given day at any given time you will have different thoughts swirling in your head than you have right now. If  you are not your thoughts, who are you? 

See your body. Think of the way it has changed over the years. Indeed, except for the enamel on your teeth, the cells in your skin and bones and other organs constantly replace themselves. You have grown from a tiny infant weighing just a few pounds to an adult weighing  . . .  more than a few pounds.  If you are not your body, who are you?  

See your goals, your sense of purpose and your plans for the future. Do these not change over time?

Does your identity change with them? If you are not your plans and goals, who are you?  

As Jesus came up out of the Jordan after his baptism, a voice spoke, "This is my beloved Son."  

Strip away all the things that are not God that claim to give you your identity and you will find that you are a beloved child of God.  

Try it  and see.